


Turnabout Outbreak

by Kobayashi_Sakoori



Category: Caduceus | Trauma Center Series, Layton Kyouju Series | Professor Layton Series, Layton Kyouju vs Gyakuten Saiban | Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, 逆転裁判 | Gyakuten Saiban | Ace Attorney
Genre: Biological Warfare, Crimes & Criminals, Crossover, Gen, Medical, Murder Mystery, Puzzles, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-24
Updated: 2015-08-24
Packaged: 2018-04-17 01:52:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 26,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4647807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kobayashi_Sakoori/pseuds/Kobayashi_Sakoori
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>To seek the truth and protect the innocent, for that is a part of their creeds. A new form of "evil" causes lawyers, doctors and a professor to come together and use their minds to find the true culprit. (This story takes place after Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies, Trauma Center: New Blood and Professor Layton and the Unwound Future. MAY CONTAIN MAJOR SPOILERS.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue- Phoenix Wright

**Author's Note:**

> TRIPLE SERIES CROSSOVER YEAH! This story takes place about a year after Dual Destinies (but none of the characters from DD, besides Athena and Blackquill, will appear in the story). Certain circumstances have changed, and this story takes place in Los Angeles in 2029. Each chapter will be written in one character’s point of view. Possible spoilers for any of the 3 game series. That’s enough of this. Now onto the prologue.

It’s been over a month since I last got a client at the Agency. Apollo got a case all the way out in Maryland, so he left last weekend to go accept the case. The circumstances of that case dates back to over 15 years ago. I can clearly remember the headlines from that day. I could never forget something as important as that event.

Cumberland College.

I can only remember the details in vague from the top of my head, but that case got worldwide attention. It was the Summer of 2012. It was a normal day here in Los Angeles and pretty much most the country for that matter. It all changed when the news headline exploded with sheer chaos that afternoon. I was at home, studying for my third exam for my last year in high school. I got early acceptance into Ivy University, so it honestly didn’t matter if I failed this one exam. I left the TV on the national news network and I was aimlessly trying to read through my notes for this exam. I guess I fell asleep after an hour of trying to do so, because the next thing I remember, I was staring at the TV’s hypnotizing screen; lost in the headlines in horror.

Bioterrorist Attack In Maryland Leaves 20 Dead; Suspect In Custody

I felt sick to my stomach. Even thinking about it now makes me want to hurl. I watched the screen as the shock and terror burned itself into my mind. They caught the guy so soon. It didn’t make sense. I always felt uneasy every time that case is mentioned. I always felt like it wasn’t fair. My mind must be playing tricks on me. I’ve always felt that the trial for the suspect was one-sided and the defense did nothing to defend for their client. At the end of it all, the suspect was convicted for bioterrorism and sentenced to 250 years in prison.

What was that judge thinking? No human can live for 250 years. Not many people can live past 65 here. How do they expect someone like that to survive a whole 250 year sentence?

That case was one of the reasons why I signed up for a university elective in Intro to Law. I never actually considered a full career in law until my mentor, Mia Fey, saved me from getting convicted of a murder that I didn’t commit. Instead, she convicted who I thought was my university sweetheart, Dahlia Hawthorne. I didn’t realize that the ‘Dahlia Hawthorne’ I fell in love with was her twin sister, Iris Hawthorne, until that case about 10 years ago, in which my assistant at the time, Maya Fey, channeled the dead spirit of Dahlia in order to prevent Dahlia from killing her. I’ve had my fair share of insane before I lost my attorney badge. Now that I have it back, let’s just say it’s good to be back.

I hope Apollo does well in the retrial for Cumberland College. Although they figured out the true culprit was the professor of virology at Cumberland, Albert Sartre, they haven’t had time to schedule a retrial until now. It’s been about 9 years since the deadly Rosalia Virus outbreak and the resolution of the bioterrorism case. I guess that’s what you could call another fault of the ‘Dark Ages of Law’.

My name is Phoenix Wright. I run what most consider a disgrace of a law firm, the Wright Anything Agency. I have two new lawyers working for me, named Apollo Justice and Athena Cykes. My daughter, Trucy Enigmar, no; Trucy Wright is also employed at this ‘talent agency’ as a stage magician. I guess you could say that I’m an ‘ace attorney’ or a person who’s able to turn around a trial into my own favour. Life for me was never this easy, especially because the media’s always after me after every huge trial on this side of Los Angeles.

Everyone at the Wright Anything Agency has something special. A ‘talent’, as Trucy likes to call it, but a ‘gift’ is what I prefer. What are these ‘gifts’ you may ask? Well to bluntly put it, I have none. My other employees are all special in one way or another. I mean, Apollo can perceive the slightest twitch in someone’s testimony and can pinpoint why they are lying. It’s hereditary in the Gramarye Family because Trucy has it too. I never told the two that they’re half siblings. I may never tell them. It’s not my business.

Athena also has a ‘gift’ as well. She was born with the ability to hear the voices of a human’s heart and she uses it to her advantage in the courtroom. Call it cheating, but I call it “using tools in a toolbox”. It’s not like I didn’t cheated the court system a few times in my life. Analytical psychology really helped me in many of my cases with Athena as the co-counsel.

Life was slow and quiet as the days passed by in sadness and melancholy. I envy my past and I’m dreading tomorrow. My co-workers are all somewhere else. Apollo’s in Maryland, taking on the case for the retrial of the Cumberland College Incident. Athena is currently out with Trucy at one of Trucy’s magic shows. She was dying to be Trucy’s assistant in one of her shows and I guess this is one of those cases.

You could call me a loner in one sense. I mean, all my friends either ‘hate’ me or are on business. Or both for that matter. It’s been 3 months since I last talked with Edgeworth. He left for Zheng Fa to deal with some sort of Interpol-related business. Guess they weren’t off of his ass about what happened the first time he went there.

And me? What should I do, now that I’m alone and bored. I could get a few bottles of scotch and see how many glasses it took before I passed out on the floor. Or maybe I could rent out some ‘films’ and watch them. Scratch that idea. If I end up doing both, who knows how many blood-curling screams I’ll hear from Athena and Trucy.

My name is Phoenix Wright and I never expected my life could turn upside down like this until now. The next few months of my life have bigger plot twists than a psychological novel and many of my past cases combined together.

It all started that one day when I got two calls from my colleagues; The professor of archeology at Gressenheller University in England and the head surgeon of Caduceus USA. By the time they called me, I knew that it was a battle of life or death. They could all die for all I know and I won’t be able to save them. I’m only useful in court and that’s about it.

My job isn’t to get my client a ‘not guilty’ verdict. My job is to believe in my client and fight to the bitter end. My mentor taught me those words and I’ve never forgotten them since.

But I can’t fight to the bitter end. Not in this situation.


	2. Chapter 1- Professor Layton

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is where I tried to build plot, but as you will see, it gets really, really messy.

To begin something without formally introducing myself isn’t something I would do at all, but the circumstances surrounding this case leaves me no time to talk about such things. I may be an English gentleman, but when a mystery arises, I am always on the case.

Or so I thought.

It was about a month ago. I’ve gotten myself into a special archeology conference in Los Angeles and I could not be more excited about it. I was getting ready to go to America a month before I was scheduled to fly over when I received some surprising news via a phone call to my office at Gressenheller.

My friend and self-proclaimed assistant, Luke Triton, called me and asked what I’m getting myself into these days. He sounded like he was desperate for an adventure again, just like the old days before he moved away from London.

Naturally, I told him I was going to teach a special archeology class in Los Angeles and he begged me to take him with me. Some things don’t change about him. Luke has matured a lot ever since we parted ways a few years back. Our last adventure together involved something out of the ordinary. You could say it ‘ripped the fabric of space and time’ as I quote.

We got involved with a huge mystery that caught international attention. The Prime Minister at the time, Bill Hawks, disappeared in a supposed ‘time travel’ incident. It involved a colleague of my sweetheart, Claire, who deliberately set up a kidnapping of the Prime Minister and covered it up to look like the Prime Minister actually time travelled into the future. It got very confusing as I found out later that Claire did not die in the explosion that happened ten years prior, but she actually travelled into the future before the machine exploded.

I still live in pain of that day. Claire is gone from this world. No words can explain the sadness and melancholy that still lurks in my heart to this day. Oh, how I wish she could have stayed in the future with me, but alas, that would destroy the fabric of space and time. The top hat I wear right now is a memento from her when we were… dating, as many would put it. I loved her then, I love her now and I will love her forever. I wish I could have stopped her before she went on with the experiment. If I only knew she would die, I would have saved her.

I was snapped out of my trance when the other side of the phone shouted “Professor!”

“My apologies, Luke. I seemed to have dazed off.” I replied.

“It’s okay, Professor! I can’t wait to go to America with you!”

His father was really lenient with him coming to America with me. I guess he must have opened up to international traveling after Luke helped me solve what happened to the Prime Minister back then.

A month passed and here I was, standing with Luke outside of the terminal, awaiting our flight to come in and begin to board. Luke has gotten quite taller the last time I remembered. It must have been puberty. We all go through it and it changes you physically and psychologically. I remember those days, but that was the past.

“Flight 358C for Los Angeles, United States of America is now boarding in Terminal 8.” was the static intercom message. I nudged Luke awake and told him we were about to board the plane.

It was a long flight to Los Angeles. If you were to put it into perspective, it would be 11 hours and 20 minutes of sitting on the plane. Thank heavens I booked a flight that left at 9:30 PM. It was a tiring day as I recalled, so I fell asleep about 10 minutes after the flight took off. After all, you need to be well rested before you make a timezone adjustment.

As we arrived at Los Angeles International, or LAX as it’s abbreviated, there was an escort from University of California, Los Angeles, or UCLA, there to take both Luke and myself to the hotel that they arranged for us. I say, they made a lot of fuss over just one class. They insisted after an hour of rebuttal and I gave in.

Once we reached the hotel, it was about 12:40 in the morning. I decided to take a shower and then I went to sleep soon afterwards. I’ve never felt this tired in my life and I don’t know why.

Little did I know, the dream I had that night was my intuition telling me that something bad is going to happen. Little did I know I was going to get roped into something that I may never escape.

I awoke to the quiet sound the the telly in my hotel room. Luke was watching what seemed to be a national news network. I was watching the headline of the news story that was being broadcasted and I can remember that day all too well.

Cumberland College.

That bioterrorist attack on Cumberland College almost 15 years ago that killed 20 people. They caught the terrorist, but my intuition thought differently. Turns out, they finally found out that the terrorist wasn’t the person they arrested, but the professor of virology at Cumberland, Albert Sartre. Since that day 9 years ago, they haven’t been able to schedule a retrial due to the ‘Dark Ages of Law’ in America. The dark ages came to an end after the renowned defense attorney, Phoenix Wright, finally solved the UR-1 Incident a year after he got his attorney badge back.

Phoenix Wright. That name brings back some memories. We met before the whole time travel fiasco. He came to Britain on business and he brought his assistant who happened to be a spirit medium, Maya Fey. We met in the most unlikely of circumstances, but together, we solved a mystery that plagued the minds of a village. There’s no time to get into the details of that case, but let’s just say that supernatural things can happen.

The digital clock read 9:52. I looked out the window and it was sunny and warm outside. Not bad for a summer day in Los Angeles, knowing the fact that the mornings can go from anywhere from 10 degrees Celsius to about 30 degrees.

“Good morning, Professor!” came the cheery call from Luke. He was all dressed up and ready for anything. I couldn’t help but smile at his eagerness.

“Good morning, Luke. Ready to go sight-seeing before we head off to the lecture hall?” I asked him as I proceeded to walk towards the bathroom to freshen up.

“We are?! Oh, this will be so much fun, Professor!” he replied back with the biggest smile you could ever see on his face.

After I got dressed and we had some breakfast, I packed up my briefcase with some papers and specimen for the lecture later and we left the hotel and began to walk around the bustling streets of Downtown Los Angeles. My, the city is more chaotic compared to London. I guess it’s what you could call a culture shock.

We were in Little Tokyo when I looked at my pocketwatch and realized it was time to head to the lecture hall at UCLA for my class on archeology. I looked at Luke, who was staring at the delicate and mouthwatering pastries in a bakery window. I’ve been craving something sweet for a while now and this is a perfect opportunity to satisfy my sweet tooth. I asked Luke if he wanted to go in to buy some cake or something else. He eagerly nodded his head and we went inside to buy crêpes and a few donuts.

I called the chauffeur they arranged to come and pick us up and drop us off at the campus. During the ride there, I felt very uneasy for some reason. My intuition told me something was going to go wrong and do I regret not listening to it.

Once we arrived at the lecture hall, I opened the door and I was greeted by a sight that made me sick to my stomach. Luke ran away as soon as he saw what lied on the other side of the door.

The sheer horror of what I saw could never be erased from history.

The entire lecture hall was filled with bodies. Most of them were dead or dying. What shocked me the most was that the dead bodies were slowly turning into dust. Some turned into a fine, white colour while some turned into a coarse, black colour. In the middle of the whole mess of the dead, stood an average male, too scared to even move. He couldn’t stop staring at a certain body and he got onto his knees and held the body close to him and began crying.

He held a woman in his arms. She was beautiful and I have no idea why he would hold her so close to him, but it struck me after I calmed myself down mentally.

They looked like identical twins.

I was about to step foot into the room when I heard the rampage of a few detectives and the police come from behind me and they pushed me out of the way.

`You there! You’re under arrest for committing a massacre in this lecture hall!” came the order from what seemed like the head detective.

“Wait! You can’t possibly arrest this poor man!” I called out.

“Hershel Layton, I’m terribly sorry, but he is a suspect in this incident. We must arrest him and put him on trial.” came a voice from behind me.

I turned around, only to be greeted by a man who was about the same age as me. He was sporting a pair of rimless glasses, a long, dark vermilion coat and a cravat.

“And you are…?” I asked.

“The prosecutor of this case, Miles Edgeworth.” he replied calmly.

“Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth!” the police force said in unison.

“I want everyone alive out of this room. There is a forensic expert coming in to assess the situation and determine the cause of death.” he sternly ordered before walking out of the room.

“Sir!” they replied as they escorted the suspect out and cleared the room.

I couldn’t let that man get falsely convicted for a crime that he didn’t do. I took out my cellphone and I dialed the only number I knew in America.

Phoenix Wright of the Wright Anything Agency.

The renowned ‘Ace Attorney’. The British media loves to call every one of his trials a ‘Turnabout Trial’. I knew Mr. Wright could take on this case. He and I think alike. We both believe that we should protect the innocent and seek the truth.

“Wright Anything Agency; This is Phoenix Wright speaking.”

“Mr. Wright, I have a client for you to defend.”

“Wait. Is this… Professor Layton?”

“Yes. I’ve called you because I got you a new client. Are you up for defending someone?”

“Hold on! What am I defending against?”

“Come to UCLA. I’m in the Geographical Studies building lecture hall. I’ll brief you more on the situation.”

“I’ll be there. I’ll be bringing two people with me.”

I hung up after that. My mind was lost in confusion. I’m dying to investigate this matter, but the police will not let me in. I couldn’t sit around any longer, so I went to search for Luke, who seemed to have ran away.

That was when I passed someone mysterious.

She had grey hair bound into what seemed like a messy ponytail and her attire was a little… revealing. I turned around to look at her, when it finally hit me.

She was the infamous forensic expert, Naomi Kimishima and she was the head forensic detective of this case.

I couldn’t lose my only chance of investigating, but fate had other things for me to do.

“Professor!” I heard the call from Luke. I knew that I couldn’t abandon a child at a time of need, so as much as I couldn’t stand it, I forced myself to go to Luke than to feed my dying urge to seek the truth. I ran towards him and he kept staring at the wall.

“This mystery has more to it than we originally thought.”

Needless to say, I, Professor Hershel Layton, am going to be lost in a twisted tale that I may not escape out of alive.


	3. Chapter 2- Derek Stiles

What’s the day anyways? I lost track ever since that first surgery back from Japan.

The name’s Derek Stiles. I used to be a surgeon under Caduceus Japan when the Stigma outbreak happened. Now that it’s all cooled off, they transferred me back to Caduceus USA and I got promoted to head surgeon. Life sucks right now; for me, anyways. Ever since that promotion, I’ve been getting no clients whatsoever, so I’m wasting my life, doing absolutely nothing, except screwing off and watching television. I NEEDED to get a client and fast. I hated wasting my life and surgical skills doing nothing. I was so bored with life that I was at the point of quitting my job.

That was until I got a client.

He was an illustration major at Art Center of Design in San Diego. Honestly, out of all the patients I’ve had, this has to be one of the weirdest surgeries I would have ever performed. There was a downside to accepting this client and that was I had to drive almost 10 hours from the Caduceus office in Los Angeles up to the hospital in San Diego, where I was to perform the surgery. It’s a simple procedure, really. The patient has developed severe carpal tunnel syndrome from endless art project after art project. I was wondering how he would have the money to pay for the surgery since fine arts majors have to spend money on art supplies and have little left for food. I was a bit concerned on how I was going to get paid until I realized that his family was rich. Like capitalist rich. They make more money per day than I will in a year; and I’m a world famous surgeon.

When I was driving north to go meet him, I always had the impression that all rich kids were all narcissists and spoiled. I was wrong. Kid’s actually trying to make a living without relying on his family’s wealth. I admire someone like that, but I also pity him as well. I mean, let’s face it; They needed artists back when the Romans and Greeks existed when the time was still ending in BCE. Now, it’s just a fight for survival in the fine arts industry. It’s an investment of money, really. If your art gets famous, you’ll get money, but when you look at it, all the great artists died and then got famous. Van Gogh, Da Vinci, Klimt are just some of the many.

“I still don’t know why you would take a case like this 8 hours away from the office.” I heard the complaint from my nurse, Angie Thompson. Well, I guess her real name is Angela Blackwell- You know what; Let’s just not.

I let out a loud sigh. I was not in the mood to argue with anyone; especially not with her. “Can we just have a peaceful drive for once? I haven’t had a case in over a year and I’m dying to get back into the game.”

I heard her flip through pages of the initial diagnosis. I could tell she was skimming through it to see what we’re dealing with.

“Hey. It says that the patient shows abnormalities in his white blood cell and platelet count and they disregarded it as unimportant. Is this why you took the case?”

“What? It says that?” I was shocked. Why did the diagnostician leave out something so vital? It could be costly later, so I made a note to myself. It’s going to affect the patient’s recovery if there aren’t enough platelets to clot the incision. It’ll be much worse if it gets infected and the poor fellow can’t fight off the infection. “What’s his blood type, Angie?”

“It says it was ‘undefined’. That’s strange. Blood typing is a simple test.”

“Didn’t I read an article on a new pathogen found inside the body that can prevent doctors from defining your blood type the other day?”

“Huh? What are you talking about, Derek?”

“It was in ‘Advancing Chemistry’ last week!”

“‘Advancing Chemistry’? Derek, that doesn’t exist! Are you sure you’re not tired or delusional?”

Was I delusional? I have been driving for the past 5 hours. Maybe it was time to stop for a break. I decided to drive through the next exit to the nearest rest station. After all, what kind of doctor would I be if I was the one to get sick from something as stupid as fatigue? Plus I was getting kind of sick from Angie’s constant question and bicker process.

I got out to stretch my legs and I dragged myself into the fast food restaurant to buy something to eat. I know, the stuff in fast food can hardly be considered food, but when you’re hungry, you’d eat anything, right? I looked at my watch to check the time. It was already 3 PM. There was about another 2 hours worth of driving until I hit the city limits of San Diego and another hour to get through rush hour traffic to get to the hospital there. Man, how I hate driving. Angie was fiddling around with the satellite radio that I installed in my car and she was looking for the news networks. I could guess why. It’s probably time for the verdict to be given out.

The verdict of the retrial of the Cumberland College Bioterrorist Attack.

The incident 15 years ago that caused a prodigy medical student to take the blame for a bioterrorist attack that he didn’t commit. His mentor, Albert Sartre, caused the incident because the laboratory’s contained virus trays fell over and caused the spread of the Rosalia Virus within the school and the inevitable death of 20 people. Ever since the viral outbreak of Rosalia back in 2020, they found the truth about what happened at Cumberland College on that fateful day in 2012. It’s been 9 years since they finally brought the Cumberland College incident to light and cleared the name of the kid who was falsely convicted and due to the Dark Ages of Law, they couldn’t find a time for the retrial.

“Breaking news from the state court in Portland, Maryland! Renowned Los Angeles attorney, Apollo Justice has further shattered the prosecution’s claims for the Cumberland College retrial and has caused the court to go into its’ second day of trial! Defense attorney Justice says that he has ‘solid evidence’ to turn around the case! We will bring you more when we know the facts!” was the extremely excited voice from the radio.

“Not bad, Justice.” I muttered under my breath.

Angie didn’t seem to hear it by the looks of it. Thank goodness.

Apollo Justice. He’s the protegé of Phoenix Wright, the infamous ‘Turnabout Trial’ defense attorney known for his outrageous claims. We met in an unlikely circumstance. He came into the ICU one day because he fell into a river, trying to cross a bridge on fire in order to save his assistant. He said it was to protect her, I say it was done out of love. I can always give him a call if I have some legal problems because of some of the patients. He knows how to handle everything legal, I guess.

I checked my watch as I rolled up to a traffic light. It was almost 7 PM and we were almost there at the hospital. I was starting to get sick of driving through San Diego during rush hour traffic. Not as bad as Los Angeles during rush hour, but still pretty awful compared to everywhere else. I let out a loud yawn. I’m glad I have some time to sleep before I go into the operating room. This’ll give me time to check in with my patient and ask them a few questions.

As I walked into the patient’s room, he was nowhere to be seen. I was about to start panicking until Angie did it for me.

“Where did he go, Doctor Stiles?!” she demanded me for an answer.

“Calm down! He’ll show up soon enough!” I answered.

“Um, who are you people?” came a voice from behind me. I was hesitant, but I turned around to look at the direction of the voice.

“I’m Derek Stiles…?”

“Oh! Doctor Stiles! I almost didn’t recognize you for a second!” the shorter male replied with relief.

“You must be Tovio Karlsson then.” I replied.

“Indeed, I am. Thank you for taking my case in these circumstances.I hope it wasn’t such a pain to drive here, Doctor.”

Oh you have no idea. “No, not at all!” I lied as I gave him a huge grin while scratching the back of my head to prevent myself from exploding.

He laughed at my facial expression. “Oh Doctor Stiles; There's no need to lie! San Diego traffic is awful!”

I was awkwardly laughing when I remembered his unknown blood type. “Ah Mr. Karlsson. About your blood type…”

“My blood type? It’s A- if I’m not mistaken…”

“Then why does your blood type on this chart say ‘undefined’ instead of A-?”

“That’s weird. Oh well. It could always be a mechanical error!”

“Doctor Stiles, we need to remember that his blood type is undefined. It could cause problems later along with the loss of white blood cells and platelet count.”

“Yeah.” I made a mental note to myself to remember later. “Well, we should let you get some rest, Mr. Karlsson. Your surgery is tomorrow and I promise you, your carpal tunnel will fade and you can continue to draw or paint or… What is it that you do…?”

“Design. I’m a graphic design student. Not that anyone else knows, Doctor Stiles!”

“Aha... Right…”

* * *

I woke up around what was it? 10 AM? The television was on the news and the station was going mad with the whole Day 2 of Cumberland College Retrial. I watched the screen as Defense Attorney Justice walk through the doors of the entranceway into the building, followed by Prosecutor McCoy  and a storm of media reporters and cameramen. This trial’s so big, I’m surprised both of them can handle the stress.

“Good luck, Justice.” I muttered under my breath as I got off of the couch in the staff lounge. I must have fell asleep in the staff lounge after I went to get some food. Geez…

“Doctor Stiles?” I heard Angie’s voice from behind. “Why aren’t you ready yet? The surgery’s about to begin in 20 minutes!”

“Crap!” I put on my lab coat and bolted towards the Operating Room. I had to disinfect myself in 10 minutes or else I won’t have enough time to perform the surgery! I crashed into the double hinged doors that separated the emergency room from the surgery briefing room.

“Late as usual, huh, Derek Stiles?”

“You..!”

Before me stood Markus Vaughn. The other surgeon I know who possesses the same ‘Healing Touch’ as me. He was also the ‘father’ of the Stigma virus that caused the outbreak.

“I heard you needed an extra hand from Nurse Thompson, so I came to your aid.”

“A-Angie! I don’t need help with this one!”

“I ran some unauthorized tests on the patient.” Angie began as she slammed some papers on the table. “The MRI scan on his right wrists show something else. It’s not Carpal Tunnel Syndrome like it was originally thought to be.” She pointed to some shadows in the photo. “Whatever this is, it’s the source of the problem. That’s why I called Doctor Vaughn to come and assist you.”

I got into the scrubs and began to use that awful soap to disinfect my arms and hands. “So we’re up against something unknown, huh?”

“Seems like it.” said Markus. “Well, whatever it is, let’s work together to eradicate it, Derek.”

“Yeah. Whatever it is, I’ll make it disappear.”

We walked into the operating room and my first intention was to grab the disinfectant gel and the scalpel. Markus put his hand over my wrist.

“Hold on, we need to debrief who’s doing what.”

“We need to open up the wrist first to assess the problem. Then we’ll deal with who does what!”

I quickly put the gel on the wrist and made a large incision into the skin and with the extra forceps, I pushed the skin open to reveal the wrist’s veins, arteries and nerves.

“What the hell?!”

I was staring at some sort of black capsule lodged into the median nerve. I was about to use the forceps to grab them when the black box began to rumble.

“Congrats, Derek Stiles. You did exactly what I wanted you to do. So sorry it had to end this way.” was a static voice coming from the black capsule.

“Is it a bomb?!” Markus was demanding.

I had no time to reply. The ‘bomb’ had already gone off and it blew up the nerves of the patient. His wrist started to crystallize into white crystals and they began to spread up his arm and then manifested to take over his body. The EKG meter was off the charts as this was happening. I stumbled back and fell over.

“Doctor Stiles!” I heard Angie call out.

“Stand back!” I shouted. I tried to activate my Healing Touch, but it wasn’t responding. Time didn’t stop. I was shocked. Markus saw my attempt and he also tried to do so, but like me, it didn’t work either. I stared at my hands. “Is this… The end…”

The patient’s body began to fall apart into fine white particles. The EKG reading was a steady, horizontal line.

“Dammit...!”

“What the hell was that…”

I never knew what I was up against. What was the message? What was that capsule anyways?

How did they know my name?

There’s more to this case than I originally thought.

It’s been a half hour since what happened in the operating room. I couldn’t think of anything. I took out my cell phone and I dialed someone who knew ordinary didn’t exist.

“Wright Anything Agency, Phoenix Wright speaking.”

“Wright, I’m about to get blamed for the death of one of my patients and I might get my ass sued. Think you could help me out of this pickle?”

“Derek Stiles. What happened?” I heard his voice say.

“I don’t know,” I began. “but I think it’s related to Cumberland College in one way.”

“You don’t say? Look, I have to get going. Professor Hershel Layton just called me. Something about his UCLA conference. Watch the news for me, will you?” he hung up after that.

I turned on the television. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

Bioterrorist Attack At UCLA; 43 Dead; Suspect In Custody

“It can’t possibly be…!”


	4. Chapter 3- CR-S01

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was the first time I ever wrote past 5000 words, which basically means I suck at writing.

Natural light is very bright. Almost as bright as the lights from the lab on that day almost 15 years ago. The day where I took the blame. The day where he left me alone and took my dear sister with him. I could never forget that day. It’s always been a part of me, even though I could never remember what had happened to me until 9 years ago. Come to think of it, I don’t remember my name or what I was studying to become. I doubt I was majoring in virology if I can perform surgery without remembering how I learned to.

How did I learn how to perform surgery? Who am I really?

All these unanswered questions I may never find the answers to. My biological parents are dead. My adoptive father and sister are both dead. I have no one. I’m alone in this world; Left behind to find out the reason why I’m still alive. What did I do to deserve this? I may never know.

Today’s the day I learn the truth of what happened. The truth about the case where I was wrongfully convicted. The case that caused the Rosalia outbreak in 2020.

Cumberland College.

My alma mater. The place where I lost everything. My memories. My family. My friends. Everything. It was all gone in the blink of an eye, or in my case, a needle in the back. I lost everything and I awake to my limp, half-conscious body being escorted out of the lab and outside. I was blinded by the flashes of the media cameras and I felt ill at that point. I could have probably gotten a seizure during that whole swarm of reporters asking millions of questions. I felt my hands bound behind me and I couldn’t move them out front. I was getting arrested, but I didn’t know for what. It all changed on the first day of court, a few months later.

“I hereby sentence you to 250 years in cryostasis with no chance at parole. Court is dismissed!” and with that line and the bang from the gavel, my fate was sealed.

I rotted away in prison for a good 8 years. I’m surprised I didn’t die from hypothermia by staying in that cell. Even at 0 degrees Celsius, bacteria can still develop. At least, that’s what Doctor Cunningham told me that day.

It took 8 years before I was able to trade off years of prison in exchange for complex surgeries where the success rate was below 20%. I was only able to trade off 26 years for only 5 surgeries, if memory serves me correct. It wasn’t a lot of years, seeing as I had 216 years left at that point. I went back to my cold and quiet cell and I didn’t hear from the outside world until the Rosalia outbreak a few weeks later.

I didn’t realize that the outbreak was that serious until one of the guards came to escort me out of my cryostasis cell, where he collapsed in front of my eyes. I couldn’t let the innocent die from a disease in which I KNEW how to treat. I saw my chance to escape from that place when another guard was frozen in fear to move or shoot me. I dashed out of the complex and assimilated my looks into the vacant streets of Portland. My first instinct was to assess the severity of the outbreak by going to the emergency ward of Resurgam.

There were so many patients to treat and so little support and equipment to cope with it. I had to act fast and I needed to save at least one person to see how the virus had mutated. As soon as I saw a man collapse while coughing blood, I ran over to him and I lifted him up and proceeded to go to the operating room. That was when I was stopped by someone I knew all too well.

Ian Holden; The man who will forever hate me because he thought I was the one who killed his wife and daughter. The main antagonist in my life.

His eyes were filled with hatred, all hidden behind those black shades he always wears to hide his emotions. “Release the hostage and leave. Don’t make me shoot you.” he ordered as he held me at gunpoint.

“You have to know by now that the quarantine has failed. Get out of the way. I want to treat this patient.” I looked at him and replied.

“You’re a fugitive. I can’t authorize that operation.”

“Then shoot me. I’m not abandoning this person to die. This… is what you taught me to be.” I told him as I walked past him, carrying the patient.

And with that conversation, began my journey to seek the truth of what really happened 15 years ago. What happened at Cumberland College. What happened to my memories. What happened to my life and everything that I once cherished and loved. Soon after that surgery, I remembered everything about the virus. I remembered everything about it. I remember Rosalia and Professor Sartre. I remember how to treat the virus and where the antiserum is.

But I couldn’t do much about it. I was a fugitive. I was inferior to normal society. I could only tell what I believed was the truth. I can’t remember everything. Even now, I still can’t. My name. My parents. My past. My dreams. All that is still so dark and cold to me. It’s painful, not knowing who you are besides a fugitive that knows the answers to resolving a virus outbreak. I can’t live a life, knowing that this would be my only use. I had to remember my past, no matter the cost.

My first obstacle that stood in my way was my prison sentence.

* * *

After the Rosalia outbreak, Holden apprehended me and and took me back to my cryostasis cell to rot away until my retrial. The retrial that I had to wait 9 more grueling years for. The retrial that was delayed 9 years due to the so called ‘Dark Ages of Law’. This era apparently started even before I was able to repeal my sentence through surgeries. April 19, 2019. The day renowned defense attorney, Phoenix Wright, gets disbarred for presenting forged evidence. It was later proven 7 years later that Phoenix Wright was framed and the true culprit who framed him was also the brother of the prosecutor for that case. Even with that case solved, there was another case that happened a year after Phoenix Wright got disbarred. UR-1. The death of a renowned psychologist at GYAXA. The supposed killer took the blame and was sentenced to death, but they never carried out the execution after Phoenix Wright and his team of lawyers proved him innocent. I wonder how Blackquill is doing now.

After the Rosalia outbreak, I got transferred to a Los Angeles prison because I was hired to perform some surgeries there. That was where I met him, sitting on death row, not caring about what he did. They placed us in the same cell because he was also working while serving hard time, like me. I learned that he was studying to be a prosecutor and that he even passed the bar exam before he ended up behind bars. I looked at him in the eyes and I could feel that he wasn’t the real culprit behind whatever he had ‘done’.

“You didn’t kill the victim, did you?” I asked him.

He looked up at the ceiling of the cell and then back down to his hands. “No. I simply decided to take the blame to protect someone I hold dear to me. She meant everything to me and I couldn’t see an innocent child like her end up somewhere like here for someone both of us never committed.” He looked at me in the eyes. “You’re wrongfully accused too. You didn’t cause the bioterrorist attack, did you?”

I sighed heavily and looked down. “I can’t remember. All I have are vague memories of the events that happened and even then, I can’t trust myself or what I remember.”

“When’s the retrial?”

“Don’t know. Whenever this so called ‘Dark Age of Law’ ends.”

“That might be never, kid. I caused that age to happen. Even when I’m dead, the age will continue.”

I met the ‘guilty party’ of the UR-1 incident that day. Soon afterwards, he got a case to prosecute and I had a busy schedule of surgeries to do, so I never saw him again.

* * *

 “Good morning. You seem to be ready for the second part of the trial.” I heard the voice from in front of me.

“Oh!” I replied, startled. “Good morning, Mr. Justice. I heard you had decisive evidence that will turn the case around.”

“Oh! Right! I have it right here, but it’s best to show it when we’re in the courtroom.” he replied as he patted his briefcase on the side. “I’ll do my best to win this case for you!”

I couldn’t control myself and I smiled. “Thank you.”

“Mr. Justice, court is about to begin. Please proceed to the defense desk.” was the stoic demand from the bailiff. Mr. Justice walked through the door and I followed behind, being escorted by the security guard and Holden.

* * *

“Court is now in session for the retiral of cryostasis prisoner CR-S01! All rise!” was the call from the honourable judge. Everyone rose from their seats and sat back down after the gavel was banged.

“The defense is fine, Your Honour!” I heard the bellow from Mr. Justice’s so called ‘Chords of Steel’.

“Mr. Justice, I request that you keep your voice down.” the judge replied with a slight chuckle in his voice.

“Ah! Sorry, Your Honour.” he replied while scratching the back of his head with a big, cheeky grin plastered on his face.

“Now then, is the prosecution ready?” the judge said, turning his attention towards the prosecution’s desk.

“Ready as I’ll ever be, Your Honour.” was the answer from Prosecutor McCoy.

“Good. Now then, please summarize the courtroom on the events of yesterday’s trial.” the judge said.

“Yesterday, we revealed that the defendant, Prisoner No. CR-S01, was in fact part of the research for the Rosalia virus and he was in the building at the time of the bioterrorist attack. The prosecution’s claim is that he is, in fact, the terrorist behind the incident due to the fact that he did not exhibit symptoms of the virus because he had the antiserum within his blood, thus making it the perfect crime.”

“I hope you have evidence to back up your claim, Prosecutor McCoy.” the judge replied sternly.

“I do, Your Honour.” he then proceeded to pull out an envelope and inside the envelope contained what I could assume was the blood test results from the sample that they took from me earlier. “This chart shows the defendant’s blood results and it tested positive for an unknown pathogen that we can only assume is the antiserum to treat the Rosalia virus. This is proof that the defendant was the one who committed the crime!” the prosecutor exclaimed as he slammed his fist on the Prosecution’s desk and pointed his finger at me, as if he was raising an objection.

“HOLD IT!” I heard the shout from Mr. Justice. “The court cannot accept this into evidence. The defense requests that the forensics lab runs a test on the unknown pathogen within my client’s blood!”

“Mr. Justice! What a bold and absurd claim you’re making! This claim isn’t going to turn the trial towards your favour!” Prosecutor replied.

“Your evidence is faulty if you didn’t get the pathogen tested! This trial will crumble for you if you don’t have solid evidence to support you claim!” Mr. Justice replied as he slammed his fist against his desk.

The judge pounded his gavel. “Order! Order!” He bellowed at the courtroom. “Bailiff! Tell the lab to re-test the blood to figure out what the pathogen is! It could be harmful to the defendant!”

“Sir!” was the reply from the bailiff as he ran out of the courtroom.

“Now then.” The judge said as he returned his gaze to the center of the courtroom. “The prosecution may call their next witness.”

“The prosecution would like to call Prosecutor Simon Blackquill to the stand!”

“...!?!”

“Prosecutor Blackquill?!” was the startled reply from Mr. Justice.

“Hmph.” I heard the sound as the tall and muscular man took the witness’ stand.

“Witness, if you may.” Prosecutor McCoy asked.

“I thought you already told the court who I was.”

“It’s protocol, Prosecutor Blackquill.” Prosecutor McCoy replied.

“If you must waste more time, then fine.” He straightened his posture. “The name’s Simon Blackquill. I’m an ex-convict and a state prosecutor for the metropolitan area of Los Angeles.”

“Ex-convict?” The judge said, surprised.

“Your Honour, he served time for about 9 years for the UR-1 Incident back in 2020.” Prosecutor McCoy informed the judge.

“Oh! I remember now! You were the second person to cause the ‘Dark Ages of Law’!” the judge answered.

“Enough jabbering. Let’s get on with it.” was the simple reply from Prosecutor Blackquill.

“Right. Now then, your testimony, Prosecutor Blackquill.”

“If you must.” He took a deep breath. “The defendant, I met him when we were ‘prison buddies’ as people would call it. It was probably the year 2024 if I can recall correctly. July, was it? Oh well. Doesn’t matter really. We had a conversation in our shared cell about the sins we committed together. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“I see. Thank you, Prosecutor Blackquill.” the judge responded.

“OBJECTION!”

“Mr. Justice! Is there something contradictory in Prosecutor Blackquill’s statement?”

“Yes. Many, in fact.” he said as he nodded his head. “The defense would like to cross-examine the witness!”

“OBJECTION! Your Honour, there is no need to cross-examine the witness!”

“OBJECTION! There is indeed a need to cross-examine the witness! Who knows what was truly said in the conversation?!”

“Objection.” I heard the calm, but firm outburst from Prosecutor Blackquill. “Justice-dono, the content of the conversation was nothing more than two men talking about our wrong-doings in the past. Nothing more, nothing less as I’ve previously stated before.”

“The defense would like the defendant to confirm such conversation and it’s contents!” Mr. Justice demanded. “Mr…” His sentence trailed off. “Um, what’s your name again?” he asked, scratching his head and grinning.

“I… I don’t remember…” I replied to his question.

“The prosecution did some research and found out that his name is apparently ‘Erhard Muller’. Or at least that’s the name that he was tried under back in 2012. The prosecution does not have evidence that ‘Erhard Muller’ is in fact, his real name.”

“Erhard… Muller…?” I tried to reply but I couldn’t. Every voice around me began to slur. My vision was becoming unstable. It felt cold afterwards.

* * *

 “Hey!” I heard an irritable shout coming from in front of me.

I opened my eyes. I was greeted by the sight of my defense attorney and Holden looking down at me.

“Thank goodness you’re awake! Recess is almost over!” Mr. Justice sighed with relief.

I sat up and I felt light-headed. I used my left hand to support my head up a little, but to no avail. “What… What…” I stumbled with my words as I tried to ask what had happened.

“In blunt terms, you fainted.” Holden said blantly.

“I… What..?”

“Mr. Justice, court is about to reconvenue. Please return to the defense desk.” said the bailiff.

“Right!” Mr. Justice then proceeded to enter the courtroom.

I stood up to go back into the courtroom, but I felt myself falling forward. I felt something grab me from behind to prevent me from falling further.

“Come on. You need to take the witness stand and I can’t hold you up while you’re standing there.” I heard the gruff voice.

I tried to regain my balance as Holden lead me back into the courtroom. I don’t know what was happening to me, but I felt a burning pain in my chest. Hopefully, it’s nothing too bad. I’ll get it diagnosed later.

* * *

“Court will now reconvenue. Is the defendant fit enough to stand trial, Mr. Justice?”

“Yes, Your Honour.” Mr. Justice replied while nodding his head.

“Alright. Seems like we made a fuss about nothing. Now, Mr. Justice, your cross-examination if you please.”

“Certainly, Your Honour.”

“This is baseless conjecture, Your Honour.” Prosecutor Blackquill replied. “But if you insist, then I guess I have to.”

“Prosecutor Blackquill, if you would please.” the judge asked.

“The defendant, I met him when we were ‘prison buddies’ as people would call it.”

“HOLD IT!” Mr. Justice exclaimed. “When did this happen?”

“I heard from the security guard that he was going to be spending some time with me in my cell, seeing as the other cells already had 2 occupants. I heard from the guard that he was a surgeon, working off his prison sentence and he just happened to get a client or 5 in Los Angeles.”

“‘Or 5’?” Mr. Justice questioned.

“What? I have no idea how many clients he had. We didn’t spend a lot of time in that cell together. I had a prosecuting case that day and his surgery schedules change everyday. There wasn’t a lot of time where both of us were awake and in the same cell.”

The judge banged his gavel. “If the defense is done with the interrogation. Prosecutor Blackquill, if you would.”

“Alright.” He cleared his throat. “It was probably the year 2024 if I can recall correctly. July, was it? Oh well. Doesn’t matter really.”

“HOLD IT! How is the date not important?”

“Silence! I have no idea what the date was when he was transferred here.”

“But when did he get transferred?”

“Justice-dono, this questioning is leading nowhere. Enough jabbering. Why does the date of when we shared a cell have anything to do with Cumberland College?”

“You’re right. It doesn’t.” Mr. Justice realized. “Please continue, Prosecutor Blackquill.”

“We had a conversation in our shared cell about the sins we committed together. Nothing more, nothing less.” Prosecutor Blackquill concluded.

“OBJECTION!” Mr. Justice exclaimed. He then proceeded to present the file for the UR-1 Incident to the judge. “Your Honour, this file clearly states that Prosecutor Blackquill did not kill Métis Cykes as the court originally thought! Therefore, you did not commit a ‘sin’ as you phrase it!” he said as he pointed towards Prosecutor Blackquill.

“OBJECTION! What does that even prove, Mr. Justice?” was the claim from Prosecutor McCoy.

“It proves that the conversation between Prosecutor Blackquill and Doctor Muller was nothing but a lie!” Mr. Justice claimed.

The courtroom filled with chatter. Most of it was the gallery claiming that Mr. Justice was accusing me after all. The judge banged his gavel. “Order! Order! Order! I will have order in this court! Mr. Justice, what is the meaning of this baseless conjecture?”

“We have no proof that this conversation happened between my client and Prosecutor Blackquill!” Mr. Justice retorted.

“Hey!” I shouted from my seat.

“Defendant? Is there something you would like to say?”

“Yes. I’d like to take the stand.”

“W-why, I haven’t heard of a defendant that’s willing to take the stand like this! Are you sure about this?”

“I’m positive. Prosecutor Blackquill’s conversation with me will lead this case to nowhere. I never got to voice my side of the story because I couldn’t remember anything that happened.” I clenched my hands into fists. “I remember everything that happened that day. I would like to tell the court what exactly happened to me that day!”

The gallery broke out into a frenzy. The judge slammed his gavel and shouted at the gallery to have order. Mr. Justice looked at me in shock as well as Prosecutor McCoy. Prosecutor Blackquill’s expression didn’t change one bit. I took my chance. I stood up and proceeded to head to the witness’ stand. The whole courtroom went silent and I could feel their piercing gaze on me at that point.

“CR-S01, you do realize you will be held in contempt of this court for lying to us 15 years prior to today, correct?” the judge told me.

“OBJECTION! Even if he’s held in contempt, he’s already served a false sentence, so serving more time would be immoral!” Mr. Justice objected.

“True. Fair enough. CR-S01, your testimony.”

I took a deep breath. This is it. I’m finally going to get the chance to voice my side of the story. “It was just another normal day. I was in my second semester at Cumberland. My father told me that he was going to the lab early and he brought my sister with him. I was still studying hard because I had a biology test that day, so I didn’t hear most of what he said. I left about an hour after he did and I went to his lab once I got to campus grounds. That was where I was greeted by a horrible sight. As soon as I walked into the virology hall, I saw 15; No. 20 people, all lying on the ground; dead or dying. I was in a state of shock. I didn’t know what to do. They all exhibited the same symptoms as the lab rats that my father was using in his experiment to test the virus. After that, I felt a sharp, cold and metal-like thing pierce through my back and I collapsed. I felt paralyzed at that point. I tried to look up, but my vision became blurred. I saw him leave me behind and that was the last I ever saw of him.”

The court felt silent. You could hear a pin needle drop because someone was crazy enough to bring a pin needle into the courtroom. The judge looked frozen too from my testimony. “M-Mr. J-Justice. Your cross-examination if you please…”

“It was just another normal day. I was in my second semester at Cumberland.” I began.

“HOLD IT! According to the data we have at hand, you were born in 1996, correct?”

“I-I don’t remember.” I replied.

“Well if it was 2012 when this incident happened, you were 16 at the time!”

“OBJECTION! Mr. Justice, what does this prove? He’s a prodigy!” came the rebuttal from Prosecutor McCoy. By now, Prosecutor Blackquill had moved himself to the prosecution’s desk, as if he wanted to prosecute this case badly.

“Doctor Muller! Can you please confirm how you got into Cumberland College?” Mr. Justice asked me.

“I-I don’t have an answer. I can’t remember.”

“Please, continue with your testimony.” the judge asked me.

“My father told me that he was going to the lab early and he brought my sister with him. I was still studying hard because I had a biology test that day, so I didn’t hear most of what he said.” I continued.

“HOLD IT! Why would Professor Sartre bring your sister to the college?”

“She was the host of the Rosalia Virus. He wanted her to come probably because he wanted to test something out and he needed her blood for it.”

“I see. Please continue.”

“I left about an hour after he did and I went to his lab once I got to campus grounds. That was where I was greeted by a horrible sight. As soon as I walked into the virology hall, I saw 15; No. 20 people, all lying on the ground; dead or dying. I was in a state of shock. I didn’t know what to do. They all exhibited the same symptoms as the lab rats that my father was using in his experiment to test the virus.”

“HOLD IT! You were in on your father’s research?!”

“I was his successor. I helped him cultivate the virus and study it alongside him.”

“I see. And why were you studying it, may I ask?”

“The virus was suppose to be an alternative to medicine. You see, the pathogen of the virus ate away at any other infection or disease within the person. It would eat any cell that was bad. The form he was study was too aggressive. The whole goal of perfecting the virus was that it could be injected into a terminal patient and the virus will eat away at the diseased cells and then eat themselves until the virus disappears from the body.”

“So why did the attack happen?”

“My father was distraught with his research. I could only imagine why.”

“I see. Please continue.”

“After that, I felt a sharp, cold and metal-like thing pierce through my back and I collapsed. I felt paralyzed at that point. I tried to look up, but my vision became blurred. I saw him leave me behind and that was the last I ever saw of him.”

“How sad. The prodigy son of an amazing researcher became framed for an act he did not commit.” the judge said in sorrow. “It is clear to me that this poor boy is innocent after 15 years of false imprisonment.”

“HOLD IT!” I heard the shout come from the prosecution’s desk. Prosecutor McCoy was raising an objection. “The defendant did not state what he was stabbed with in the back!”

“OBJECTION! Prosecutor McCoy, even a person like you should know that a normal human being cannot turn their heads and look at their back to see something like that happen to them!” Mr. Justice exclaimed as he slammed his fists against the desk.

Just as Mr. Justice finished knocking down the prosecution’s claim, the bailiff stormed into the courtroom. “Your Honour! The results from the blood test are back!” he said, exhausted and huffing to catch his breath.

“Bailiff! What do the results say?” The judge demanded.

“There were actually 2 pathogens present in the defendant’s blood! The first pathogen is an amnesia inducing agent! With the technology that just came out, that pathogen has been in his system for about 15 years!”

“Why, this incident happened 15 years ago!” the judge realized. “This alone proves that the defendant is innocent and was wrongfully charged!” The judge picked up his gavel. “Prisoner No. CR-S01, The court system wrongfully accused you of committing the bioterrorist attack at Cumberland College 15 years ago. No amount of money can compensate for the years of life that we robbed of you. This court finds you-”

“OBJECTION!”

The courtroom jolted in surprise. Mr. Justice was raising an objection.

“Mr. Justice! You practically won the case! What are you possibly objecting to?!” the judge demanded.

“Your Honour, what was the other pathogen found inside his blood?” Mr. Justice asked.

“It says ‘amnesia inducing agent and undefined pathogen found inside blood’. There’s nothing else about the other pathogen.” the judge answered.

“I see…” he replied.

“Now then, if there are no more objections from BOTH the defense and prosecution, this court finds Prisoner No. CR-S01 NOT GUILTY!” he said as he slammed his gavel. Cheers came from the audience in the gallery. Mr. Justice seemed relieved, but I could also see a slight amount of worry in his expression.

“Court is adjourned!” the judge said as he slammed the gavel and dismissed everyone.

* * *

 “We did it! Congratulations, Doctor Muller!” Mr. Justice said as he grinned.

“Thank you, Mr. Justice.” I replied.

“Hmph, not bad, Justice-dono.” I heard the voice from behind me.

“Prosecutor Blackquill!” Mr. Justice said in shock.

“This state’s court system is such a bother. The prosecution calls me in as a witness and my testimony is utterly useless. I wonder why I agreed to come in the first place.” I heard Prosecutor Blackquill mumble under his breath.

Holden appeared behind Prosecutor Blackquill. “You.” he said at me. “Where are you going to go now? Since your name’s been cleared.”

“I plan on going to Los Angeles. I heard that Resurgam here in Portland got closed due to the new hospital that’s being built in its place and that all of them got transferred to Hope Hospital in California. Hopefully I can go there and get a job there at least.” I replied.

“I got the plane ticket!” Mr. Justice butted in.

“The 3 of us plan on returning to Los Angeles together.” Prosecutor Blackquill added.

“I see.” Holden said as he came closer to me. He took out a key and unlocked the cuffs on my wrists. “Go on. I heard there’s a situation happening over at UCLA and I think it would be beneficial for you to go there.”

“A situation?” I asked.

Just as Holden has said that, the news came on the television in the lobby.

“There is a massive panic at UCLA as a whole conference room in the archeology was filled with dead corpses was found over an hour ago! The police already have a suspect in custody and a lot of the evidence found points to the suspect’s guilt in this bioterrorist attack! We have just received word that renowned defense attorney, Phoenix Wright, will be taking on the defense of this case and the prosecution’s team leader will be Chief Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth! We will have more on this as the news keeps rolling in!” the reporter on the screen was saying.

“What?!” I exclaimed.

“Archeology? Wait. Professor Layton is visiting LA because of archeology conferences at UCLA!” Mr. Justice realized. “We have to get back to LA!”

“How? Our plane isn’t going to come for another 3 hours! And with the panic of a new bio infection, Los Angeles will be in a quarantine! There’s no way they’ll let us land at LAX and our flight home is pretty much cancelled!” Prosecutor Blackquill reasoned.

“Come on. I have a helicopter and I work for the FBI. I can get you guys past the quarantine and onto the ground to assess the damage.” Holden said seriously.

“Come on! We don’t have a lot of time! Innocent lives are at stake!” I shouted.

* * *

 We landed in Los Angeles about 4 hours after we left the courtroom. Holden thought it was best if we landed at Hope Hospital to assess the severity of this infection. I jumped out of the helicopter and stormed my way through the building, passing by Doctor Stiles and Doctor Cunningham’s joint office. I got into the elevator and I press and held the button that would bring me to ground level. The elevator moved faster that way.

As soon as I walked out of the elevator, I was greeted by nothing more than an emergency ward filled with people who had normal emergencies.

The pain in my chest grew stronger. I could see Doctor Cunningham walking from another hall and I fell forward; gripping my chest. I could hear faint shouts and then I couldn’t remember anything after that.


	5. Chapter 4- Markus Vaughn

“What do you mean I have to prep for surgery?! Valerie, are you insane?” I retorted.

“Markus! This man’s going to die if we don’t do anything about it! We have no choice but to perform this operation now or else we’re going to face a lawsuit or something even worse!” my colleague, Valerie Blaylock’s reply to my endless questioning.

“Markus, she has a point. Kid’s gonna die if you don’t do it.” I heard the smooth and calm reply from my other colleague, Gabriel Cunningham. “This kid’s valuable to Caduceus. He’s the person who helped us solve the Rosalia outbreak 9 years ago.”

“You mean this kid’s-”

“-The doctor under alias CR-S01?!” Valerie finished my sentence.

“Yes! Why I’m surprised you didn’t know.” Gabe replied.

“Dammit, Gabe! What am I doing?! I don’t have time to stall!” I shouted at him as I ran out of the room and to the other side of the hospital.

“Doctor Vaughn! Wait!” I heard Valerie and my nurse, Elena Salazar yell behind me.

My name is Markus Vaughn and I’m a surgeon employed by Caduceus USA. At this point in time, I’ve just flown back from San Diego after what was a failure of a surgery with Doctor Stiles. The guilt is haunting me as I’m running down the hallways and into the operating room. Every time a patient dies on me, I strive to save every last one. I know that some patients die because sometimes, it would be near impossible to save them, but I couldn’t see them go like that.

“Get out of the way! Surgeon coming through!” I shouted as I made my way through the crowds at the emergency ward. I caught a glimpse of the people there. More and more were piling into the ward with some sort of mutatious crystal growing on their skin. Some were white crystals and most were black, coal-like crystals. “What’s going on?!” I demanded the nearest nurse I could get a hold of.

“Oh Doctor Vaughn! It’s terrible! There was a bioterrorist attack at UCLA and the people coming into the emergency ward are all infected with something similar to what happened down at the university!” she replied in a panic. “I have to go! Doctor Torres needs all the help possible in stabilizing the people in this ward before she goes out on a call!”

“A bioterrorist attack?!” Valerie said in a shocked and horrified voice. “You don’t suppose…”

“A repeat of Stigma, GUILT and Rosalia? Could be. We don’t know the information now; We’re focused on saving our patient right now! Let’s go!” I barked.

“Right!” Elena and Valerie replied back.

* * *

 “You’re up against something new, Vaughn.” I heard the monotone and probably cold phrase from someone all too familiar.

“Doctor Niguel.” I replied. “I suppose you’re not here to assist me.”

“Actually, I am. I need to collect research data on this new pathogen.” he answered.

“So it’s a pathogen?” Valerie asked.

“Can’t be anything else.” I answered. “Let’s begin the operation!” I grabbed the antibiotic gel and the scalpel. “Whatever you are, I will eradicate you.” I whispered to myself.

I sprayed on the gel to the incision area above his heart and I proceeded to cut into the skin. I took some of the forceps and pried the skin to either side. I went further into the body and revealed the heart.

“What the hell?!” Valerie shouted. “What is that?”

“This…!”

“It’s Savato, is it not?” Doctor Niguel questioned. “Incinerate the outer shell with the laser! It’s the only way to weaken the bug.”

I grabbed the laser and began to point and incinerate the outer shell. It’s Savato that’s affecting the heart of this kid, isn’t it? There shouldn’t be a problem, knowing that Savato is about the same as Cardia in a sense. This process of incinerating the outer shell using a laser is painstaking process. Trust me; Every time I weaken it enough to cut it, the little thing just decides to create more lacerations in the organ and create more of the web as it rebuilds its shell as I suture the lacerations and cut down the web. Good old fashion parasitism. I hate it.

“There! Doctor Vaughn! It’s your chance now; Cut the Savato with the scalpel and get ready to activate the Healing Touch!” Elena ordered.

I acted fast and cut the little bugger with the scalpel and I got my hand in ready position to activate the Healing Touch. The Savato bug began to react to the incision and I was about to go at it. Suddenly twin parasites came out of the heart and began to attack the Savato.

“What the hell?!”

“It’s Cheir! The vitals! Markus, the patient is going into ventricular fibrillation!” Valerie shouted as she ordered one of the standby nurses to get the defibrillator machine. “Here, focus on the Cheir. I’ll inject stabilizer and suture the lacerations.”

“Thanks, Val.” I replied.

I picked up the laser and began to push the fused Cheir off of the heart, giving Valerie some space and time to suture up some of the wounds. The little pathogen moved faster and made a deep wound on the kid’s heart. Immature Savato began to fill out of the laceration. I acted fast and began to move the laser around like crazy, trying to destroy the small, pillbug-like things. I lost focus on the Cheir, but the Cheir was nowhere to be found.

“What?! Elena, quickly hand me the ultrasound!” I barked. “I have to find the Cheir body!”

Elena handed me the ultrasound. “Doctor Vaughn! Watch the vitals!”

He went into flatline. “Shit! Val, the defibrillator!”

She worked in sync with me and charged the paddles. “Clear!” she shouted as she tried to jolt the heartbeat back. “Damn… One more time! Increase the voltage!” she pressed the paddles onto his chest again. The vitals didn’t come back. “No! We can’t lose him! Markus!”

I began to palpate the organ. Only choice left, really. Now was my chance to activate the Healing Touch. I moved my fingers in the motion, but nothing happened. I tried again, but time didn’t slow down or stop at all.

“No! The Healing Touch won’t work!” I realized.

“Dammit, Doctor Vaughn! We need to revive him! Continue palpating the organ!” Doctor Niguel demanded.

I kept palpating the organ. As if by a miracle, his heartbeat came back and his vitals began to stabilize. “That was close.” I said, relieved.

“The battle hasn’t been won yet, Markus. There’s still something else in his heart that we have to get at.” Valerie informed me.

The Cheir returned and I began to ready the laser to burn it when it combusts and disappears, leaving behind a deep wound. A black, claw-like bruise began to form on the heart.

“This bruise! It can’t possibly be…” Elena said, worried and shocked.

“Rosalia too?! What kind of pathogen is this?!” Doctor Niguel responded in disbelief. “Doctor Vaughn, you got to deal with this before his body goes into shock.”

“Urgh, I know! Dammit, why doesn’t my Healing Touch work?!” I wanted to know. “Valerie, inject the stabilizer into him! Get his vitals maxed out and try using your Healing Touch!”

“Markus! That’s insane!” she protested. Nonetheless, she did it anyways. As I focused on mending the deep wound in his heart, she injected stabilizer into him and began to move her hands in the motion to activate her Healing Touch, Vital Lock. No luck. “It’s not working for me either!”

“Then I guess we have no choice. We’re doing it the old fashion way.” I stated. “Since we can’t use the Healing Touch, we have to save him in 10 minutes or less.”

“10 minutes? Can we really destroy Rosalia in 10 minutes?” Elena questioned my rash descion.

“What choice do we have? Now or never, Val.”

“You’re right. A doctor does everything they can to save their patients. Let’s take the gamble.” she replied firmly.

“Couldn’t have said it better myself…” I muttered. “Let’s end this.”

I grabbed the ultrasound and found 3 tumor-like shapes under the heart’s surface. Valerie cut open each one and I took the drain and drained the pools of blood while she sutured them together. We worked in unison; Nothing from the outside world could bother us at all. I felt like we were in a different universe together. It felt… Surreal.

The Rosalia was reacting to whatever we were doing. We injected the antiviral drug into the heart to stop the spread of the disease throughout the body. The ultrasound picked up on a reaction coming from inside his heart. Valerie moved to spread antibiotic gel onto the heart and I cut open the heart. We dove deeper into the mystery and we found a black, circular type thing lodged inside of the organ.

‘This is the bomb-like thing from a few hours ago!’ I thought.

Valerie reached into the heart and grabbed the device. It wasn’t attached to anything and she tossed it into the tray and Doctor Niguel took it back to his lab to do further research on it. The Rosalia colony inside his heart was present under the device. I was ready to inject the antiserum when little, fine white particles began to circle around the colony. The particles attacked the Rosalia colony until it was all gone. I didn’t know what to do, so I put antibiotic gel onto the particles and they all disappeared before our eyes. Valerie and I snapped out of our trances.

“Doctor Vaughn! Doctor Blaylock!” Elena cried.

“What just happened…? Valerie wondered.

“I don’t know, but good thing the vitals are stable. Let’s close the kid up.” I replied. “It’s finally over…”

Valerie sutured the kid back together and bandaged him up. “Operation complete. We… did... it…” she said as she collapsed into my arms.

I felt weak. I fell back and I blacked out.

* * *

 “Ugh….” I groaned as I opened my eyes. I put my hands on my head and tried to comfort the throbbing pain in my head. “What the hell…”

“Thank goodness you’re awake, Doctor Vaughn.” I heard a feminine voice say softly. “You passed out after the surgery. Doctor Blaylock did too. Are you alright?”

“Who is this…” I asked, half-dazed. “You sound like…”

“Ah! Sorry. It’s me, Tomoe Tachibana; The endoscopic surgeon.” she replied. “I was told to check in on you two.”

“What happened? To us, that is.” I said as I began to sit up.

“Careful, Doctor Vaughn! You struck your head on the defibrillator. Please don’t make rash and quick movements.” Doctor Tachibana replied calmly, but with worry.

“What…?” I said as I looked to my left. I could see Valerie beside me on another bed. She looked so peaceful, sleeping. I stood up and grabbed my white coat that was sitting on the end of my bed. I rested the coat on my shoulders and walked out of the room.

“Doctor Vaughn! Where are you going?” Doctor Tachibana inquired.

“To go see Doctor Niguel.”

* * *

 “I did an analysis on the circular device extracted from your heart and it looks like it’s a bomb of some sort and it’s filled with a pathogen. This pathogen is shown to contaminate the blood of the person who has it. The bomb was suppose to blow up or combust when the area containing the device was opened. It’s activated by light and blood. The question is, why didn’t it go off when Doctor Vaughn opened up your heart?” I heard the voice of Doctor Niguel as I walked into his lab.

“Activated by light and blood?” I heard another voice. “It sounds familiar for some reason.”

“Maybe it should. Some professor at Cumberland was apparently studying something like this in 2007 or something. Heard that guy disappeared off of the face of the earth before the incident.” Doctor Niguel shrugged. “You should look into it.”

“Doctor Niguel.” I said as I entered the lab.

“It’s a bomb with a pathogen in it, Vaughn. Same shit happened in San Diego apparently. Heard the patient died.”

“Yeah. Derek’s taking it hard. I had to come back though.” I replied.

“Typical of him. He was like that when a GUILT sinner died. Lost his Healing Touch during that time too.” Doctor Niguel recalled. “By the way, I’ve been trying to look into why you couldn’t use your Healing Touch, but I haven’t found anything yet.”

“I see.” I replied. “Well, I guess I’ll leave you to do whatever it is you’re doing.” I said as I looked at the hundreds of trays on his desk.

“Wait, Doctor Vaughn.” I heard the other voice call out.

I turned around. “Oh. You.” I answered as I looked at him. The kid who was apparently the one who caused Cumberland College.

“I think I might know what’s going on. Something’s coming back to me, but I can’t put my tongue on it.” he told me. “I feel like it’s connected to my stolen memories.”

“Stolen, huh?” I asked. “Focus on recovering first, Kid. I know someone who can help you.”

“You do?”

“Might be a long shot, but I think I can get her to come do a scan on you. She’s the best analytical psychologist in Los Angeles. She works at the same firm as your lawyer for your retrial.”

“You’re talking about Athena, aren’t you all?” I heard another louder voice coming from the entrance to the lab.

I turned around. “Mr. Justice.”

“Geez, Markus, we’ve known each other since university. Calm down with the formalities for once.” Apollo replied.

“Whatever you say, Apollo.”

“If it’s a psychoanalysis, I got you covered. Athena owes me a favour or 3.” he beamed.

“Still the player from the frat life, Justice? Thought you changed after the bar exam.” I snorted. His face turned 10 shades of red. Almost as red as his suit. It made me laugh harder. “So around noon tomorrow then?” I said as I tried to catch my breath.

“Y-yeah… Sure…” He replied meekly.

I walked past him while giving him a hard slap on his shoulder. “Mad wheels, Justice. Mad wheels.” I laughed as I walked out of the lab.


	6. Chapter 5- Naomi Kimishima

I was awoken from a midday slumber by Alyssa Breslin, my adoptive daughter. She seemed to be in a panic when I opened my eyes.

“Naomi! Naomi! Wake up! Mister Little Guy needs to say something to you!” she frantically shouted.

“If this is another proposal, then I don’t want to hear it.” I replied groggily.

“No Naomi! This is serious! Something about dead people!”

“‘Dead people’? What do you mean?” I sat up and looked at myself in the mirror on the other side of the dimly lit room. I smoothed out my hair from its ‘bedhead’ state into a more clean and refined style. I stood up and walked to the front entrance of the house, where Navel stood with a rather grim face on.

“Doctor Kimishima.” he formally greeted.

“Cut it out with the formalities, Little Guy. We are pressed for time, are we not? What’s going on. Debrief me on the situation and do not leave out any detail.” I snapped.

“Sheesh… Alright.” he said as he back off a little. “There’s been a bioterrorist attack at UCLA. It happened in the conference room in which a special archeology lecture by Professor Hershel Layton was suppose to be held. 43 are dead. They have a suspect in custody. I’m afraid the victims’ bodies are all disintegrating as we speak.”

“What? ‘Disintegrating’?” I questioned.

“We have no time to waste. We have to get going.” Little Guy informed.

“Alright. I suppose I’ll have to see for myself.”

“Naomi! Naomi!” I heard Alyssa call from the other room.

“What is it, Alyssa?” I replied back.

She skipped happily towards the both of us. “Can I go too? Pleaseeeeeeeee?” she begged.

“Alright, alright. You’re responsible enough to take care of yourself. Just don’t tamper with the crime scene.”

“Oh, uh, Doctor Kimishima?” Little Guy interrupted. “There’s also a young boy down at UCLA. He’s Professor Layton’s so-called ‘apprentice’. He’s about Alyssa’s age, so they might as well stick together.”

“Good idea, Little Guy.” I replied.

* * *

 I arrived at the scene of the crime and was greeted by someone unfamiliar. What an odd sense of style he has. Aristocratic? It suits him, I guess, but no one sports a cravat anymore.

“Ah. You must be Doctor Kimishima.” the unfamiliar man greeted me. “Miles Edgeworth; Chief Prosecutor of Los Angeles.”

“Naomi Kimishima; Forensic detective for the FBI.” I answered. I ushered a motion to Little Guy. “Special Agent Navel; My partner in investigations.”

“Let us skip formalities, for we have no time to waste.” Prosecutor Edgeworth said sternly. “This is all the information our novice detectives on the police force have gathered.” He told me and he flipped open a file folder and began rummaging through the pages. “Casualties are estimated to be 44; 43 of which are dead. The cause of death is unknown, but we believe it to be bioterrorism. The bodies of the dead are breaking down very quickly as we speak.”

“‘Breaking down’? ‘Disintegrating’? What is going on?” I demanded an answer. “Show me to the crime scene and I shall begin my autopsy on any body I can salvage.”

“Alright. I will personally escort you to the scene.” Prosecutor Edgeworth said.

* * *

 “Professor Layton, please, we ask you to leave the crime scene at once.” I heard from the other side of the door as Prosecutor Edgeworth began to open the door.

“No! I refuse to leave until I solve this mystery!” I heard the reply from a gentle, yet demanding British voice. “Can’t you make an exception?”

“Officer, what is going on?” Prosecutor Edgeworth asked.

“This civilian refuses to leave the scene of the crime!” the officer replied orderly.

“Please, Prosecutor! You must allow me to investigate as well!” the British man with the top hat plead.

“That is not my choice. That is Doctor Kimishima’s choice.” Prosecutor Edgeworth said as he motioned to me.

“Professor Layton? Do you mean YOU’RE Professor Hershel Layton of Gressenheller University? THE Professor Layton?” I asked the man with the top hat.

“Well I suppose my fame has reached all the way to America. Hershel Layton, Professor of Archeology at Gressenheller University in London. How do you do, Doctor Kimishima?” he greeted as he lifted his top hat.

“A chance to work with Professor Layton is amazing. Please Professor. You must help me with this investigation.” I asked.

“Then let us not waste any more time.” he answered.

“Alright.” I said calmly. “Everyone out!” I shouted as my voice echoed in the conference room.

Every officer, Prosecutor Edgeworth and Little Guy all left the room quickly and quietly, leaving the Professor and I alone in the conference room, which is beginning to smell different.

“Professor? We need to talk about a strategy of what we are going to do.”

“Yes, that is a very logical thing to do, seeing as everything is chaotic as of this moment.”

“You do not have a background in forensics at all, do you? I suppose that means you shouldn’t investigate the corpses then.”

“I would rather not deal with the dead because that is something you should be handling, Corpse Whisperer.”

My eyes widened as I looked at him. “How did you-”

“My intuition serves me well.” he replied with a smirk. “But forensics is your field of expertise. I shouldn’t steal the spotlight. I’ll look around and gather evidence. Every puzzle has an answer.”

“I suppose you’re right, Professor. I leave the search for evidence in your hands.”

“I won’t disappoint. I leave the dead in your care, Doctor.” he said as he exited the room.

I turned around and began to stare at the scene I was presented with. Ah, this feeling… Even if I am cured from my disease, I still cannot help but wonder what exactly is death. What does it signify? We cry when we are born. What about when we die?

The prosecutor was right; The bodies were disappearing before my eyes. Some faded into fine, white powder while others decayed into coarse, black dust. Strange. I have never seen such a thing happen before.

My cell phone began to vibrate. The ominous and cold aura began to envelope me. I answered the call.

“ARGH! No…. Sergio! Please! I don’t want to leave! I don’t want to leave!”

“So… Your life was cut short as well… But, who were you? And who is the ‘Sergio’ you speak of? I suppose I’ll have to identify you myself… But, which one, of the many, are you?”

Just as I finished listening to the female’s voice, Little Guy barged into the conference room.

“Can’t you knock, Little Guy?” I questioned. I looked at him and realized another set of unfamiliar faces beside him as well. “Who are these people?”

“Phoenix Wright, the so-called ‘ace attorney’ of Los Angeles.  He’s representing the defendant at the trial.” Little Guy informed. He motioned to the two females standing beside the man in the blue suit. “Maya Fey and Athena Cykes, Mr. Wright’s assistant and fellow defence attorney.”

“‘Ace attorney’? Sounds familiar…”

“He was the one who brought closure to the UR-1 case last year, if that’s any help.” Little Guy replied.

“Ah! Yes, now I remember. Mr. Wright, I’m sorry, but I cannot allow you to investigate the crime scene just yet. I still have yet to begin my autopsy.” I told the man in the blue suit.

“Take your time. I only needed to come here because my assistant, Maya Fey, wanted to see if she can channel one of the victims to aid in our investigation.” Mr. Wright answered.

“‘Channel the dead’? Mr. Wright, what are you purporting?”

“Maya Fey is the head of the Kurain Channeling Technique. She can essentially channel a dead spirit and have them inhabit her body for some time, depending on the gender and age of the person.” Mr. Wright explained. “Hard to believe, but you have to see for yourself if you want to believe it.”

“Do you happen to know the names of any of the victims?” the cheerful, short, black-haired girl asked. “Oh boy Nick! This is gonna be fun! Solving mysteries with you again is my favourite thing to do!”

“Little Guy, do we have a list of victims or a list of the people attending this conference?” I demanded.

“Unfortunately, no. This conference was open to anyone at UCLA who had a spare, but it was limited to people who were majoring in a form of anthropology. Considering the population of this school and the amount of people enrolled in the Bachelor of Arts program here, we may never find a list of victims.” he answered, disappointed.

“Well, I have to leave this crime scene in your hands, Doctor Kimishima. I must speak with Professor Layton before I head off to the detention center to meet my client.” Mr. Wright suddenly spoke up. “Athena, Maya, please don’t destroy anything.” he begged the two girls before leaving.

“Count on us, Mr. Wright!” the other cheerful girl with orange-red hair said while waving cheerfully at Mr. Wright before he left the room. “Just call if you need anything!”

“Hey! Stay away from the crime scene!” I ordered the black-haired girl, who was running around the whole conference room. “Can’t you do something about this, Little Guy?”

“I’m afraid not. I need to get back to the office. Send me anything for analysis.” he said as he quickly left the room, leaving me alone with two nutcases.

I stared at my phone and I replayed the message again. There was something odd about it… But what?

“You can hear it too, huh?” I was startled by a voice from behind. It was the orange-red haired girl.

“Who are you and what do you want?”

“Aw! Come on, Doctor Kimishima! I thought Mr. Navel introduced us already! I’m Athena Cykes; Courtroom Revolutionnaire!” she piped up.

“Ms. Cykes. I’ll be sure to remember that.” I replied. “Naomi Kimishima; Head of the forensics for this case.”

“Nice to meet ya!” she answered joyfully. What a young face. How did she pass the bar exam so quickly? Nevermind that. What did she mean that I can ‘hear them too’?

“What do you mean? That I can hear them too?” I asked.

“I can hear your heart. You heard one of the dead, didn’t you?” she questioned.

“Maybe I can and maybe I can’t. Why does that matter to you?”

“Because that girl over there can get you answers, regarding the death of all these people here.”

“You’re not serious…!”

“Hey hey Athena! Do you think Nick’s gonna take us out for burgers after we’re done investigating?” the black-haird girl appeared out of nowhere and inquired.

“Maya, listen to me. Doctor Kimishima heard the dead. Do you think you can channel a victim if she shows you what she she heard?” was the reply from Ms. Cykes.

“That’s easy! Just let me know the name of the victim! Unless you have a voice sample because those are more helpful!”

I let out a long sigh. “I suppose there’s no reason to hide it…” I reluctantly replied. “But you are not allowed to use this voice clip as evidence in the court of law. The legal system will never believe it.”

“You worry too much! I channeled a dead criminal in court and the judge believed me!” the person whose name I will assume is ‘Maya’, answered.

“That is absurd. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, Miss Fey.” I snorted.

I went back to examining as much as I could, but with the disintegrating bodies everywhere, it’s hard to even draw clues or evidence from all the dust everywhere. Why were people all mysteriously turning into dust? And why do some turn into black, coarse dust while others turn into white, fine dust? I formed three cards and sent them to my computer: Humans Turning Into Dust?, Black Dust, and White Dust. I need to send the dust to Little Guy for analysis.

I turned around to see Ms. Fey and Ms. Cykes still wandering around the crime scene, trying to collect evidence. “Hey, don’t tamper with the crime scene.” I ordered.

“Hey, Athena! Look at this shiny bullet I found!” I heard Ms. Fey point out as she bent down and almost touched it.

“Stop right there! Do not lay a finger on the bullet! That is very important to the investigation!” I shouted as I stormed over there to have a look at the new piece of evidence.

“Maya, I don’t think that’s a bullet. It looks like a bullet but it’s not scruffed up, as if it hasn’t been shot out of a gun.” Ms. Cykes pointed out.

“You’re right…” I realized. “And this bullet is missing a half, but there appears to be some sort of purple crystal inside of it.”

“Oooooooooooh looks like one of those pretty necklaces that are made with bullets or something!” Ms Fey said with content. Regardless, I picked up the “bullet” and put it into an evidence bag.

* * *

 “Little Guy, I’m sending you some of the dust I found for analysis and this bullet Ms. Fey found on the ground.” I said as I began to send the information over to him. “I want these results pronto.”

“I’ll do my best, Doctor.” he replied.

I turned around from my laptop to see Ms. Fey stumbling and collapsing completely into the arms of Ms. Cykes.

“Maya? Maya?! Answer me, Maya!” Ms. Cykes demanded.

Ms. Fey’s body looked so flimsy and lifeless. That was when I began to see her body change forms. She began to grow taller as her bust grew a bit bigger. Her eyes opened, but something strange has happened.

“Maya?” Ms. Cykes asked.

“Maya” began to look around the room and then she stared right at me. “The Shadow did this. She’s the criminal. You have to stop her. It’s Mc-”

She never finished her sentence as she collapsed again. I saw Ms. Fey revert back to her original self.

“Did I channel the right person?” she asked.

“I hope you did.” Ms. Cykes answered. “The person you channeled said that ‘The Shadow’ did this, but you never finished your sentence.”

“Hmm…”

“Something wrong, Doctor Kimishima?” Ms. Cykes questioned.

“So the man in the blue suit was right. This person can channel the dead. This is preposterous. We can’t use that as solid evidence at all. It’s pseudoscience.”

“Hearing the voice of the dead from your cell phone is also pseudoscience, Doctor Kimishima.” Ms. Cykes pointed out.

“How did you-”

“Let’s just say I have a skill too!” she beamed. “No worries! Your secret is safe with us!”

“Oh it better be…” I mumbled to myself.

Just as I said that, my cell phone began to ring again. “Yes? What is it, Little Guy?”

“I have the results back from your analysis on the dusts and the bullet you found. I’m sending them to your computer.” Little Guy informed me.

“That took long enough. Let’s deduce something from the results.”

I hung up and got back on my laptop. I scrolled to the files on the dusts that were found in the crime scene.

* * *

 EVIDENCE: Deceased’s Voice

DESCRIPTION: The final words of one of the deceased victims of the attack. It is unknown who this person is. “ARGH! No…. Sergio! Please! I don’t want to leave! I don’t want to leave!”

 

EVIDENCE: Black Dust?

DESCRIPTION: One of the two dusts found at the crime scene. Made of coarse, black particles.

STARS: ⅓

 

EVIDENCE: White Dust?

DESCRIPTION: One of the two dusts found at the crime scene. Made of fine, white particles.

STARS: ⅓

 

EVIDENCE: Black Dust? Analysis

DESCRIPTION: One of the two dusts found at the crime scene. Made up of iron III oxide, possible remains of human DNA and has a strong, rust-like scent.

STARS:⅓

 

EVIDENCE: White Dust? Analysis

DESCRIPTION: One of the two dusts found at the crime scene. Made up of sodium carbonate, possible remains of human DNA and is odorless.

STARS: ⅓

 

EVIDENCE: Bullet

DESCRIPTION: A bullet found by Ms. Fey at the crime scene. Has an odd, purple stone inside of it and is missing the other half of the bullet

STARS: ⅓

 

EVIDENCE: Bullet Analysis

DESCRIPTION: The purple stone inside is an amethyst crystal but the crystalline structure of it does not resemble that of an amethyst’s. What could this mean?

STARS: ⅓

 

EVIDENCE: Ms. Fey’s Channeling

DESCRIPTION: Ms. Fey supposedly channeled one of the victims of this attack. This “channel” claims that a person named “The Shadow” did this.

STARS: ¼

 

EVIDENCE: “The Shadow”?

DESCRIPTION: A supposed victim channeled by Ms. Fey says the culprit goes by the name, “The Shadow”. The victim described that “The Shadow” is a girl.

STARS: ½

* * *

 I dragged the Bullet Analysis card to combine it with the Bullet card. It’s no doubt the bullet was actually a pendant of some sort, as mentioned by Ms. Fey. This piece of evidence is of no use to the investigation right now, but I’ll hold onto it, just in case.

I clicked on the analysis of the black and white dusts and dragged them both to their respective cards. Collecting evidence is a bit too easy for a case like this.

* * *

EVIDENCE: Amethyst Bullet Necklace

DESCRIPTION: A bullet necklace with an amethyst stone inside of a bullet casing. The crystalline structure of the stone does not resemble that of an amethyst’s, but tests state otherwise. What could this mean?

STARS: ⅔

 

EVIDENCE: White Dust

DESCRIPTION: One of the two dusts found at the crime scene that contains sodium carbonate, some sort of human DNA and is odorless.

STARS: ⅔

 

EVIDENCE: Black Dust

DESCRIPTION: One of the two dusts found at the crime scene that contains iron II oxide, some sort of human DNA and has a strong, rust-like scent.

STARS: ⅔

 

EVIDENCE: Possible Human DNA?

DESCRIPTION: The test results for the dusts came back with possible remains of human DNA. What could this mean?

STARS: ½

* * *

 “Little Guy, run tests on the possible human DNA found in the dusts. I want to see if we can identify anyone and if the DNA isn’t completely damaged.”

“Roger that, Doctor.” he replied. “It might take a while for the technicians to sort the chromosomes and such.”

“Whatever it takes. Just get it done.” I answered as I hung up. Just as I hung up, Alyssa and an unfamiliar little boy barged into the conference room.

“Naomi! Naomi! Come quick! Luke found something mysterious and the professor guy is doing something to it!” was the panic-strickened voice of Alyssa.

“The Professor told us to come get you quickly! He needs your assistance!” the boy piped up.

“I’m coming. Lead the way.”

* * *

 “This puzzle is quite difficult…” I saw the Professor say to himself as I approached him.

“Professor Layton. Did you find something of importance?” I asked.

“Maybe so, Doctor.” he replied. “It might have something to do with this puzzle, but I, for the life of me, cannot figure out the answer to it. It requires the knowledge of forensics, something I don’t have. Maybe you would like to give it a shot, Doctor Kimishima?”

“A puzzle?” I questioned. “A puzzle can contain an important clue?”

“Every puzzle has an answer, Doctor. This puzzle could help us solve the case, but it might not as well.” the little boy pointed out.

“May I ask who this boy is?” I said as I stared at him.

“Luke Triton, Apprentice of Professor Layton!” the boy said as he gripped his cap.

“Naomi Kimishima, FBI.” I replied. “Now then, about the puzzle.”

“Right. This puzzle requires the knowledge of a person familiar with forensics. I’m not that kind of person, but you are.” Professor Layton began. “This puzzle looks like you have to reconstruct a skull and figure out what kind of skull it is.”

“But Professor Layton, I thought you were a world renowned archeologist. Surely, you must know a thing or two about skulls.” I realized.

“That is true, Doctor, but this puzzle can only be solved by you. I’m sure you are more familiar with Blumenbach and his theory than I am. I specialized in ancient civilizations more than fossils and life before us.”

“Blumenbach, huh?” I stared at the puzzle. It looks like The Professor had already put the skull back together. I stared at the bottom of the skull and saw various coloured gems. “What are these gems?”

“They would appear to be the keys to unlocking this vault or door or chest. There’s something written in Nordic Rune, which I can decode for you.”

“Please translate the Runes. They must serve some sort of use.”

“I’ll do my best.” he said as he tipped his top hat a little. “Behind this skull lies clues to a disease that killed the great kingdom of Denmark. To unlock the mystery, use the gems to recreate the eyes of Yorick.”

“‘Yorick’? If I’m not mistaken, that’s-”

“-the skull exhumed in Act V, Scene I of The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare. Yorick was the skull that Prince Hamlet was holding in his hand as he recited a soliloquy just before they buried Ophelia, his dead lover.” I heard another voice say from behind.

I turned around to see the man in the blue suit again. “It’s you again.”

“Mr. Wright.” The Professor greeted him.

“How did you know all of that?” I asked him.

“I was a pretty big arts kid back in high school. Hamlet was my favourite tragedy play I studied.” he replied with a cheeky grin. “It’s going to be impossible to determine the colour of Yorick’s eyes. He’s not even a real person.”

“But there is more to the Runes.” The Professor said. “Use these clues in case you forget.”

“What clues?” I questioned.

“Well it appears to be a map of some sorts, Doctor Kimishima. I can only decode the legend for you.” he replied.

I looked at the “map”. It was a pedigree chart. Suddenly, the nightmares of high school biology and genetics filled my mind. I hated pedigree charts. “I’ll try my best, but I absolutely despise pedigree charts.” I said. “Please decode the legend for me, Professor.”

“As you wish, Doctor. A square shape represents a boy while the circle represents a girl. Yorick has a mutation, causing one eye colour to be a different colour from the other. The shapes are shaded in the person’s eye colour. Assume mutations happened if the eye colour of a child is different from their parents’. Trace the pedigree chart to determine what colour Yorick’s eyes are. Make sure to put the right colour in the right eye socket or the contents will burst into flames!”

“Oh joy. Now I can’t mess up no matter what or all the evidence will be destroyed.” I muttered.

* * *

 “Okay, I finally deduced the colours of the eyes, but I don’t know which side the green or the blue go on.” I finally concluded after a long time of confusion and frustration.

“I think I might be able to finish the puzzle.” The Professor said.

He took the two gems, stared at them, then flipped them over and put the green gem in the left socket and the blue gem in the right socket. The eyes lit up as a door to a vault-like contraption opened. I hope I never have to deal with this ever again.

“It worked. Thank you, Doctor.” The Professor said with a sigh of relief.

I looked inside of the vault. A bunch of rough stones of all shapes, colours and sizes were inside of the vault. Some had pieces missing from them.

“This… This can’t be…” I said as I frantically pulled out the bullet necklace to look at the colour of the stone. It matched one of the stones found inside of the vault.

“Wow, this is really important evidence for the trial…” Mr. Wright pointed out.

“We need to send these in for analysis, but I’m afraid that there might be another trap set if we take out all of these gems.” I realized. “Just when we were getting to the bottom of this…”

“Let us close the vault for now. We’ll come back to it when we figure out what exactly they are and why they are hidden like that.” The Professor said as he closed the door.

Just what was that doing there? I must find out.

* * *

 EVIDENCE THUS FAR

 

EVIDENCE: Deceased’s Voice

DESCRIPTION: The final words of one of the deceased victims of the attack. It is unknown who this person is. “ARGH! No…. Sergio! Please! I don’t want to leave! I don’t want to leave!”

 

EVIDENCE: Amethyst Bullet Necklace

DESCRIPTION: A bullet necklace with an amethyst stone inside of a bullet casing. The crystalline structure of the stone does not resemble that of an amethyst’s, but tests state otherwise. What could this mean?

STARS: ⅔

 

EVIDENCE: White Dust

DESCRIPTION: One of the two dusts found at the crime scene that contains sodium carbonate, some sort of human DNA and is odorless.

STARS: ⅔

 

EVIDENCE: Black Dust

DESCRIPTION: One of the two dusts found at the crime scene that contains iron II oxide, some sort of human DNA and has a strong, rust-like scent.

STARS: ⅔

 

EVIDENCE: Possible Human DNA?

DESCRIPTION: The test results for the dusts came back with possible remains of human DNA. What could this mean?

STARS: ½

 

EVIDENCE: Ms. Fey’s Channeling

DESCRIPTION: Ms. Fey supposedly channeled one of the victims of this attack. This “channel” claims that a person named “The Shadow” did this.

STARS: ¼

 

EVIDENCE: “The Shadow”?

DESCRIPTION: A supposed victim channeled by Ms. Fey says the culprit goes by the name, “The Shadow”. The victim described that “The Shadow” is a girl.

STARS: ½ 


	7. Chapter 6- Luke Triton

Watching the adults whisper about the rocks we found isn’t interesting. Watching them do everything isn’t interesting or fun. I wish they would let me help them. I can find things that can help, but they won’t let me. They never let me unless they want me to talk to animals. I wish they would give me some chance.

I’m Luke Triton, the professor’s apprentice! I’m accompanying the professor on his supposed archeology conference at UCLA before this “bioterrorist attack” happened. Now the professor is caught up in the investigation and I’m just standing around, waiting for it to be over for the day. It gets boring sometimes, following the professor around and watching him solve all the puzzles. Alyssa comes up to me as I sit on the ground.

“Hey, Luke, let’s go look for some other evidence!” she suggests. “It’s boring, waiting here for Naomi to finish. Maybe we can find something that could help them!”

“Great idea, Alyssa! Let’s do it!” I replied as I got up.

* * *

 We walked towards the conference room and began to search for some other things. No police were on guard and no one was inside the scene of the crime, which is weird. Alyssa ran off towards the top of the amphitheatre-like lecture hall. “Check the walls, Luke! The cops didn’t look like they checked them yet!”

“Okay! I’ll start here!” I shouted as I began to look around near the entrance. Nothing interesting seems to be in this area. I move up more and scan the seats in the hall. Some dust bunnies and nothing noticeable in the wall. I move up again and I notice a slight colour change in the wall and what seems like a hole. I poked around in it and the drywall crumbled down. “Hey, Alyssa! I think I found something!” I said as I continued to destroy the wall. Inside the wall were a lot of needles and bottles. I reached for the bottle when suddenly I heard a scream.

“Luke! Help me!” Alyssa cried.

I turned around to see a bunch of people hiding their faces, grabbing hold of Alyssa. I ran towards the men and jumped up. I landed on one of them and began to kick them. I threw punches and threw myself onto them, making them lose their balance. This gave Alyssa a chance to slip out of their grip and she also joined me in fighting against the faceless people. We tried to fend them off, but they cornered us and grabbed a hold of us.

“The rabbits have been captured. I repeat, they have been captured.” one of the faceless guys said out loud. “Let’s hurry before they find us.”

“Not so fast!” I heard the voice call out from behind. The faceless guys turned around and I caught a glimpse of the professor along with the doctor and the prosecutor. “Let go of those children!”

“Professor!” I called out.

“Naomi!” Alyssa yelled. “Naomi, help us! Naomi!”

“Hold on, Alyssa! We’re coming!” the doctor shouted back. “Let go of them now or the charges will be more severe!”

“Not a chance!” one of the faceless guys replied.

The professor began to run over towards us. He jumped into the air and began to fight the faceless guys when one of them took out a handgun and pulled the trigger.

“PROFESSOR!” I screamed.

“Professor Layton!” The doctor yelled.

Even as he fell, he fell gracefully. He can’t be dead. He can’t be! But he didn’t move.

“Professor! Professor! Professor!” I kept crying.

“Get the hostages out of here and drug both of them!” the faceless guy shouted at the others.

“What?!” I shouted. “Drug us?!”

There wasn’t any time to react because the next thing I knew, I felt a prick on my left arm and I blacked out. Anything that happened during that time I wouldn’t know.

* * *

I awoke in a strange place, tied to something breathing behind me. It took me a while to register the fact that I was tied to Alyssa after she awoke and started to call out my name.

“Luke? Luke? Where are you?”

“I’m behind you. Literally.”

“Oh, thank God you’re here. Where are we?”

“Some room, it looks like. Did they hurt you, Alyssa?”

“No, I don’t think they did.” She began to squirm around. “How do we get out of here?”

“I don’t know.”

Suddenly, the window above us shattered to the ground and there stood what appears to be a teenage girl. She seemed really happy to see us. “Not to worry! The Great Thief is here to rekidnap you! If that’s even a term…”

“Who are you?” I asked, confused.

“Hey, what’s that noise?!” came a loud, yet faint voice from another room.

“Oh crud, they’re gonna spot me soon.” the girl said. She jumped down from the ledge and untied us. “I hope you’re both not too hurt because we need to run!”

The faceless guys barged into the room we were trapped in. “Shit! They’re free now! Get them and the new one too!”

“Run!” Alyssa shouted. We each split off into three different directions and ran around the maze-like storage room. I ran left as three of the faceless guys chased after me. The boxes to the side of me seemed unstable, so I jumped onto them and climbed up, kicking the loose boxes down in the process, slowing down those henchmen. Kay saw me climb and yelled at Alyssa to do the same. Kay immediately started climbing boxes until it reached the window in which she got into the warehouse in the first place.

“Guys! This way! Hurry!” Kay ushered to us.

Since Alyssa was closer, she headed towards the window and climbed out just as the henchman started to get back on their feet. I knew I didn’t have enough time to get out there, but I tried anyways. “Run, guys! I’ll catch up to you!” I shouted at them.

“No! We can’t leave you behind, Luke!” Kay shouted.

“Kay, we have to run!” Alyssa replied. “Luke can catch up, I’m sure of it!’

It took a while for Kay to cave and go on without me. “Okay, but you better be a fast runner, Luke!”

I watched them as they ran off. I leaped for the window and tried to escape, but something got caught on my leg and I was stuck.

“Ha! Got you, you little bastard!”

I kicked his hand, trying hard to loosen his grip on me, but it was too strong for me to break free from. “Let go of me!” I shouted. “Let go!”

“Never. You’re too important to this operation and we must keep you as our hostage.” the faceless guy replied as he pulled me away from the window until I was hanging upside down from his grip.

“Hostage?!” I retorted. “No! Let go!”

I felt the guy’s grip get tighter as he flipped me right side up and covered my mouth and nose with a dirty rag that had a faintly sweet smell to it. I tried to resist breathing it in but before I knew it, I was out cold. I awoke to the sight of a camera in front of me, a pistol pointed at my head, and a raspy voice shouting at the camera. I tried to move, but I was tied down to the chair I was sitting on.

“Give us Hershel Layton in exchange for the boy. That’s the last condition. You have exactly one week to comply, or this little boy is going somewhere very far away. Don’t worry. We won’t kill him. He has another use for us.” the raspy voice said.

My eyes opened wide in terror. I didn’t know what to expect, but after the man with the raspy voice stopped talking, two people untied me, picked me up and threw me into a dimly lit room and locked me inside. I ran up to the door and began to bang on it.

“Let me out! Let me out! Who are you and why do you want the Professor?!” I demanded.

“Boy, you shouldn’t make such a fuss. You’ll never get out if you keep being so noisy.” I heard a soft voice from behind me.

I turned around to see a feminine figure standing before me. “Who are you?”

“I don’t know. Who are you?” she asked.

“I asked first.” I retorted.

“You need not know who I am. I’m unimportant, just like you, little boy. Always accompanying Professor Layton on his adventures, are you? Always causing him trouble too? Don’t you think that he thinks you’re a nuisance to him?”

“No! That’s not true! The Professor never thinks of me as a burden to him!”

“How would you know? You’re a naive little boy. Professor Layton isn’t trying to hurt your feelings, but he doesn’t like it when you go along with him. Now, he really must hate you for tagging along to come to America with him. You couldn’t stay out of trouble, now could you?”

By now, my anger towards this person has become nothing and I felt a bigger hatred for myself and the Professor. “Yeah, so what?! I couldn’t stay out of trouble this time, but what does that change?!”

“Professor Layton doesn’t need you anymore. He would have been able to stop you from being here, now wouldn’t he?”

“Yeah, I guess…”

“And he’s always telling you to stay out of trouble, right? And you never do, right?”

“I guess...”

“So isn’t it time to make Professor Layton stop worrying about you?”

“Yeah…”

“So why don’t you join me? I’ll teach you how to fight for yourself and make sure you’ll be the least of Professor Layton’s worries. How does that sound?”

I was hesitant to say ‘yes’ because I really wanted to say ‘no’. How could I trust someone like her? I don’t even know who she is. “What do I have to do?”

“Become one of them. They’re looking out for Professor Layton. They only want to protect him. If you join them, you’ll be protecting him.”

“Really? You’re only protecting the Professor?”

“Of course. Why would we ever hurt Professor Layton?”

“Alright! I’ll do it!”

Finally! I’ll be able to protect the Professor and make sure he never gets hurt by anyone else! This is great! This hostage situation isn’t bad after all.


	8. Chapter 7- Miles Edgeworth

Panic at the crime scene isn’t good. Especially if I’m the one that isn’t calm. Chief Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth here, but I have to skip introductions. We have a major situation here right now.

“Professor Layton!” Doctor Kimishima cried out as she ran over to him.

“This isn’t good. Someone call an ambulance!” I shouted. “Secure the perimeter! Don’t let them get away!”

Doctor Kimishima tried to check for a pulse. “It’s no good. I can’t find it! Guess I’ll have to treat it here. Little Guy, give me the emergency kit. Try to sanitize the area as much as you can while I administer the anaesthesia.” She said as she began to perform CPR on the Professor and constantly checking his pulse. “It’s back.”

“Doctor Kimishima, are you sure you’re going to do this here?” I asked.

“Yes. I’ll just use my Healing Touch to keep him stable enough until the real paramedics come here. That is if I still have the ability to.” she replied as she began to set up the scalpel and forceps. “I’m going to extract the bullet. You.” she looked at me. “I’m going to have to borrow your cravat, Chief Prosecutor.”

“Why?”

“To clot the bleed so he doesn’t bleed out. There’s no time to argue. Just give it.”

I sighed and took off my cravat quickly and handed it to her. “Here.”

Doctor Kimishima took it out of my hand. “Little Guy! Keep everyone away. I’m going to begin.”

“Understood. Make an incision right where the bullet entered the body. It didn’t pierce through him completely. but there is going to be heavy internal bleeding if we don’t stop this soon.” Special Agent Navel said. “We’re low on antibiotic gel and we don’t have any synthetic membrane or serum to create skin grafts. You need to be careful before the ambulance arrives. I’ll prepare a needle for suturing.”

“Starting the procedure. Chief Prosecutor, what’s the status on the ambulance’s location?” Doctor Kimishima inquired.

“It’ll be another five minutes before one paramedic arrives and another fifteen for the actual ambulance to arrive. The first paramedic has supplies, so please do your best.” was my answer.

“Don’t need to. Extracted the bullet. Chief Prosecutor, please get an evidence bag. We need to examine it.” she replied as she held the bullet in her left hand and patted the cut area with my cravat. “Shoot, the cravat’s soaking up a lot of the blood.”

“How did you do that so fast?!”

“Doctor Kimishima can use two different Healing Touches. The one she just used slowed down time so she could work quickly.” Special Agent Navel answered.

I motioned to one of the officers on standby to bring an evidence bag. Just as one of them reached the door, it slammed right into their face and a young woman was standing in front of the doorframe. She was holding a large bag that must be full of medical supplies. “Naomi! I got the synthetic membrane and serum for skin grafts as well as more antibiotic gel and bandages!” the woman called out.

“Maria! Thank goodness! I need you to assist me.” Doctor Kimishima sighed. “I don’t know how stable he is but I just extracted the bullet and I’m trying to suture the wound closed. Prepare some of the synthetic membrane. The wound won’t close shut and the bleeding is getting worse.”

“It’s no good. We don’t have a drain so I’ll have to use the gauze, but I don’t have enough!” the girl, whom Doctor Kimishima called ‘Maria’, realized. “Wait! I have this new foam injection that might just work! Finger’s crossed he’s compatible and won’t activate an autoimmune response before we can transport him.”

‘Maria’ then pulls out an abnormally large needle from the bag of medical supplies she brought with her. Inside the needle was some cloudy liquid that she quickly injected into the Professor’s abdomen. Doctor Kimishima sutured the wound shut and applied a large amount of bandages over the stitches. Just as soon as they finished, the other paramedics arrived with a stretcher into the conference room and the two began to have a heated conversation with the rest of the medics.

I turned around and left the room. “I need a status update on the situation. Now!” I barked at one of the officers standing around.

“We couldn’t find the kidnappers. The entire campus is secure. Every single police officer in Los Angeles is on the lookout for them. What else is there left to do, Chief Prosecutor?”

“Wait or search harder.” I grabbed the officer’s radio. “This is Chief Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth speaking. All officers on and off duty should immediately be on the lookout for the whereabouts of Mr. Luke Triton and Miss Alyssa Breslin. Do not give up until they are both found or further instructions are released. Secure the entire city limits of Los Angeles and the airways too. Their kidnappers must not escape!”

“Chief Prosecutor! Are you sure about this?!” I heard the Chief of Police reply over the radio.

“Unless you don’t want you job anymore, yes, I am. Now, go!” I said as I handed back the radio.

“Chief Prosecutor! We’re heading to Hope Hospital for surgery!” Doctor Kimishima called out from behind me. The paramedics were pushing the stretcher out and running at top speeds to make it outside to the ambulance.

“I better go with you, then. The Professor needs to be guarded at all times.” I said as I went after Doctor Kimishima and followed her to the ambulance.

“BP is plummeting! We need to give him a transfusion, but we have no more artificial blood left!” one of the paramedics yelled.

“Stay calm, you idiots!” ‘Maria’ shouted back at them. “We need to get blood from a live donor. Is anyone here the same blood type as Professor Layton or O negative?!”

“I’m too much of a risk to donate.” Doctor Kimishima immediately responded.

“I’m A positive.” one of the paramedics replied.

“I’m AB negative.” the other paramedic said.

“I’m O negative, I believe.” I answered. “Let’s just get on the road and fuss over the transfusion while the ambulance is moving. We don’t have time to waste.”

The two paramedics pushed the stretcher into the back as I rolled up my sleeve and ‘Maria’ began to rub the inside part of my elbow with alcohol. We all hopped into the back of the ambulance as the other two hopped into the front and began to drive at alarmingly fast speeds. ‘Maria’ began to tie a rubber band around my forearm. She felt around for one of my blood vessels and pricked into it with a needle. The needle was connected to a tube and the other end was another needle Doctor Kimishima connected into Professor Layton’s arm. The crimson blood began to flow from my arm, down the tube, and into the Professor’s arm. ‘Maria’ took off the rubber band from my forearm.

“We got about five minutes before you get lightheaded. If we wait ten minutes, you’ll lose too much blood and we might not be able to save you if that happens. If we wait any longer than ten minutes, you’ll be dead.” ‘Maria’ tried to tell me. I shivered in fear.

“We’ll unhook you after five minutes, but you should remain seated in the ambulance while Maria and I rush the Professor into the operating room. Someone will come out and look after you.” Doctor Kimishima noted.

“No.” I replied. “I’m going to the operating room gallery to watch.”

“Chief Prosecutor, I must advise against this!” Doctor Kimishima retorted.

“And if you wish to stay in Los Angeles, then let me do this.” I snapped.

Doctor Kimishima sighed. “Hey, you. Hand me the radio.” she asked the paramedic up front. “I need a wheelchair, a bag of O negative blood and an O.R. prepped for emergency surgery. Send one of the best surgeons you have to the O.R. and prep for surgery. Things have gotten complicated.”

“Roger that.” was the reply over the handheld. “We’ll see if Doctor Cunningham is available.”

“I’ll be assisting, so please have a second scrub ready as well.” she added.

“Understood.”

“Naomi! BP is rising, but secondary symptoms are appearing! He’s going into anaphylactic shock!” ‘Maria’ shouted. “I’m going to disconnect the transfusion line from the Chief Prosecutor. Administer the epinephrine!”

Doctor Kimishima grabbed a needle and unsheathed it using her teeth and stabbed it into the Professor’s leg as ‘Maria’ pulled the needle out of my arm and forced me to hold a cotton ball over the area where the needle was. She grabbed some tape and bound the cotton ball to my arm just as the ambulance stopped moving and the doors flew open, revealing the entrance to the ICU of Hope Hospital and several nurses on standby. All at once, two nurses grabbed and pulled the stretcher out, ‘Maria’ and Doctor Kimishima ran after the stretcher and another nurse pulled up a wheelchair to the ambulance. Two nurses grabbed my arms and lowered me into the wheelchair and they pushed me at a very uncomfortably fast speed as they lead me into the O.R. gallery just as Doctor Kimishima bursts through the door of the O.R. with full operating scrubs on. Another doctor awaited her in the O.R. and was pressing buttons on a computer monitor.

“Doctor Cunningham, I have accessed the hospital’s security database so I can observe the operation and offer assistance and differential diagnoses as you move forward.” I heard a feminine, yet robotic voice call out into the operating room.

“Geez, RONI, you’re one smart cookie. I’m only assisting. I don’t operate anymore.” the other doctor replied to the voice, as if it was a person.

“Doctor Cunningham, who is that?” Doctor Kimishima questioned the man whose name must be ‘Doctor Cunningham’.

“Oh that voice? It’s just an AI. Literally has the entire Mayo Clinic stored in an eighth of its memory. It’s a very useful, albeit annoying robot.” ‘Doctor Cunningham replied. “RONI, Doctor Kimishima. You will tell her what to do if something happens.”

“Understood, Doctor Cunningham. Doctor Kimishima has been added to my database under ‘Surgeons’. We shall begin the operation right now.” the robotic voice noted. “Anaesthesia has already been administered at the scene. Adjusting the amount being used. Doctor, you may begin.”

Doctor Kimishima picked up the scalpel and some gel. She applied the gel onto the abdominal area of the Professor and made a cut right where she put the gel. As she exposed the abdomen, there was a very large amount of white, foamy like material lining the inside of the Professor where the internal organs should be.

“Interesting. The foam actually worked.” ‘Doctor Cunningham remarked. “You can cut it out without harming the vitals, so do whatever you want. I’ll have some synthetic membrane on hand.”

“Thank you, Gabe.” Doctor Kimishima replied. “Prepare for severe hemorrhaging. He might bleed out. I’ll need hemostatic forceps ready.”

“The hemostatic forceps are located to the right of you, Doctor Kimishima. They are already heated up. Please be careful.” the robotic voice added.

“Wow… So this is how far technology has gotten…” Doctor Kimishima pondered. “Thank you, RONI.”

“By my calculations, I am supposed to say ‘you’re welcome, Doctor Kimishima’.” the robot replied.

“Revealing the abdomen. Gabe, get ready. I have to activate the Healing Touch. You activate your’s too.”

“Roger that.” ‘Doctor Cunningham’ saluted.

Suddenly, I felt the world stop for a second and then restart itself again. Doctor Kimishima was already suturing the Professor’s abdomen shut. ‘Doctor Cunningham’ was passed out on the floor. A few nurses were dragging him out of the O.R. and Doctor Kimishima finished the surgery.

“Operation complete. Good job, Doctor Kimishima.” the robotic voice said.

“Thank you, RONI. Please go check on Doctor Cunningham’s condition. I’m going to go lie down. Nurses, make sure this man’s room gets guarded from all directions.” Doctor Kimishima replied. “Chief Prosecutor, are you alright?”

I blinked once and then twice. “I think I am.”

“That’s good news. I’ll update you on the case then.” she sighed.

* * *

“Oh man, my head's killing me. RONI, give me morphine so I can forget this pain.” ‘Doctor Cunningham’ asked the computer right beside him as soon as I walked into the room.

“I’m afraid I cannot allow the authorization of non-medical usage of morphine, Doctor Cunningham.” the computer replied. “On another note, Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth is here.”

“What an interesting computer. It would be useful in the courtroom.” I noted.

‘Doctor Cunningham’ got up from his bed. “So you’re the famous Chief Prosecutor of Los Angeles, huh? What brings you here anyways?”

“Doing my job. Professor Layton is a high profile witness to the current case we have right now.” I replied.

“The UCLA bioterrorist attack? You’re in charge of that case?” he questioned.

“Yes. I’ll be the leading prosecution.”

“This is all happening so freaking fast. Geez, if I knew any better, this whole thing is being blown out of proportion… First the attack, then a visiting professor gets shot and his kid gets abducted…”

“Actually, the kid who got abducted was Professor Layton’s so-called ‘apprentice’. Luke Triton. Age twelve. Son of a close friend of Professor Layton’s. Says he has the ability to talk to animals.” I heard the familiar voice from behind.

“Doctor Kimishima, how nice of you to join us.” ‘Doctor Cunningham’ replied.

“Gabe, how is your head now?” Doctor Kimishima asked the scruffy man.

“Can you get my stupid robot here to give me morphine? I’m dying here.”

Doctor Kimishima sighed. “No, Gabe. Can’t you just get your hand on some Vicodin or a weaker ibuprofen? At least those are somewhat legal.”

“I would advise against using illicit prescription drugs around me if I was here as a prosecutor, but I’ll let it slide. What happened during the surgery, Doctor Kimishima?” I inquired.

“I managed to activate a combined Healing Touch to stop time altogether, along with combining Doctor Cunningham’s Healing Touch too. I patched up Professor Layton’s abdomen and he should be fine, but I have my doubts. I also found Nous and Immature Tetarti, which I wasn’t prepared for, so we’ll need to do a follow up soon. I’m not up for this surgery though. RONI, can you assign Doctor Stiles or Doctor Vaughn for the surgery?”

“I’m afraid I cannot assign Doctor Stiles nor Doctor Vaughn for the surgery.” the computer replied to the Doctor’s request.

“Why’s that?” Doctor Kimishima asked, somewhat annoyed by her tone of voice.

“Both Doctor Stiles and Doctor Vaughn are both on sick leave. They’ve been gone for a while now. Doctor Blaylock is available for surgery though. Do you wish for me to assign her to the follow up surgery?” the computer added.

“Doctor Blaylock? Where is she currently, RONI?” ‘Doctor Cunningham’ asked.

“Doctor Tachibana is overseeing her condition currently. She hasn’t woken up from a surgery that was done earlier.” the computer replied. “Hold on. Doctor Tachibana just updated the patient records. Doctor Blaylock is currently conscious. She is in Room 417. Do you want me to page Doctor Tachibana as well to let her know you are coming?”

“No, that’s fine. I’ll go by myself.” Doctor Kimishima said. “Chief Prosecutor, it’s getting late. You should go back to the office to check on the case updates or home and get some rest.”

“I suppose I should go and check on the status of the case. Trial begins tomorrow and I need to collect my evidence.” I answered. “I’ll see myself out. Good night, Doctor Kimishima, Doctor Cunningham, I presume.”

“Later, Chief Prosecutor.” ‘Doctor Cunningham’ replied.

“Good night, Chief Prosecutor. I’ll see you at the trial tomorrow.” Doctor Kimishima said.

* * *

I arrive at the office and walk into a panic. There wasn’t anyone at the office, but it was a huge mess. I sighed.

“Gumshoe, if this is you, I’m going to cut your pay again!” I shouted.

“Herr Chief? What are you still doing here?” I heard a strong, German voice in the back of the office.

“Prosecutor Gavin? Why are you here still?” I asked as I walked towards his office. “Why is this place a mess? Who did this?”

“Auch, I wish I knew, Herr Chief. It would appear we have either been looted or a tornado blew right through the office. I only came here to check on some files when the entire place was a mess. They didn’t steal any of my files though, which is weird.” he informed me, but he began to sniffle. “But whoever came in here stole one of my prized guitars! It was priceless!”

I glanced at the wall of guitars in his office to see the shattered glass and a missing guitar from the shelving unit. I then looked around the rest of his office. Nothing else was displaced. I quickly realized I should go check my office and bolted out of Prosecutor Gavin’s office. I ran towards my office to see a hooded man in my office jump out of the window. I ran towards the window and looked out.

“Get back here!” I shouted, but the hooded man ran off and ran into a crowd, where I lost sight of him.

“Herr Chief! Your entire office! It’s-”

“Completely destroyed.” I finished. “The case files for tomorrow. Where are they?” I said as I tore my office apart in a desperate attempt to find them.

“Herr Chief, I have them with me. You told your secretary to give them to me.” Prosecutor Gavin said as he held up the files. “Thank goodness I was holding onto them, or that crook would have stolen them.”

I grabbed the file out of Prosecutor Gavin’s hands and skimmed through the contents to see if anything was stolen. Nothing was. The file has been untouched. “Nothing seems to be gone, which is good.”

“I took the liberty of looking over the case myself. I’ll be assisting you tomorrow in court along with Herr Blackquill, since the defense will be the Wright Trio.” Prosecutor Gavin informed me.

“Well then. This will be quite a battle.” I thought. “I guess I’ll go home then. Good night, Prosecutor Gavin. Make sure to lock up.”

“Wait! Herr Chief, are you sure you’re going to leave the office like this?!”

“We’ll deal with it in the morning. Today has been a long day. Get some sleep if you can. We have court tomorrow.”

“I will try, but I will certainly worry about my beautiful guitar…” I heard Prosecutor Gavin mumble to himself as he walked out of my office.

* * *

I get home to my apartment and immediately see a guitar, which wasn’t mine, lying on the ground of my kitchen. Sitting on the counter was the same hooded man from before.

“Who are you and why are you here?!” I shouted.

The hooded man lifted his hood off. That was when I realized that the man was actually a woman. No, a girl.

“You’ve gotten ruder since the last time, Mr. Edgeworth.” my assistant, Kay Faraday, complained.

“Kay?! You stole the guitar?! And you messed up the office?!”

“Nope. I just stole the guitar back. The one who messed up your office was someone who I won’t name, but the person who stole Prosecutor Gavin’s guitar was someone else who broke in. I broke in for fun!” she beamed.

“Wait, you’re saying someone else broke into the office?!”

“Yep! Not sure who. Seemed in a rush to ruin your entire office and steal a priceless guitar.”

I weakly pulled out my cell phone and dialed Prosecutor Gavin’s number. “Hey, Gavin, it’s Edgeworth. You’re not going to believe this, but your guitar is in my apartment because someone I used to work with stole it back from someone else…”

“Herr Chief? Do not joke with me about this matter. That guitar really is priceless.” Prosecutor Gavin answered with an unimpressed tone. “You’re serious?!”

“You can come and pick it up whenever. I suggest you do it now because I don’t wish to touch it or break it or do anything to it.”

“I’ll be over shortly.” he said quickly as he hung up.

“How did you get into my apartment, Kay?” I turned as I asked her.

“Picked the lock. I’m staying here for a while anyways. Hope you don’t mind!”

I sighed. “Well it’s too late for you to be anywhere else, so you can stay here, I guess. The guest room is down the hall, but it’s messy, since I use it as an office too.”

“Oh, I know, Mr. Edgeworth! I already found it. Cleaned it up too! Good luck on your court case tomorrow! I’ll be in the gallery.”

“Thanks?”

I was still confused as to why Kay was doing here in Los Angeles, seeing as she has no relatives here nor did anyone really ‘summon’ her. She seemed to be content, but I have a feeling she’s hiding something.

* * *

“Court will now commence! Is the defense ready?” the judge said as he banged his gavel.

“Yes, we are, hopefully.” was the answer from Phoenix Wright, the head of the defense.

“Prosecution?”

“Let us get this show on the road, Herr Judge!” Prosecutor Gavin answered.

I groaned. “Yes, Your Honour.”

“Alright. Opening statement, if you will.” the judge began.

“The defendant is Sergio LaFranchi. He is accused of committing the bioterrorist attack at the University of California: Los Angeles Campus, which happened yesterday. Here is the case file.” Prosecutor Blackquill said as he handed in the file.

The judge looked at the defendant. “This kid? He committed the attack?!”

“OBJECTION!” was the unison shout from the defense.

“You have no evidence to prove anything!” Defense Attorney Justice claimed.

Prosecutor Gavin looked at me with a troubled look. “He’s right, Herr Chief. We actually have no evidence at all!”

“What?!” Defense Attorney Wright gasped. “You’re saying you guys have no evidence?!”

Prosecutor Blackquill drew out his sword quickly and pointed it at the defense. “And what about you, Wright-dono?”

“Ack!”

The judge banged his gavel several times. “Prosecutor Blackquill, you are not permitted to have a sword in the courtroom and you certainly are not permitted to draw it against the defense!”

Prosecutor Blackquill sheathed his sword. “Hmpf. Sp the defense is just a big mouth today, huh?”

“That’s not true!” Defense Attorney Cykes retorted, as she slammed her hands on the bench.. “There are witnesses waiting to give their statements!”

“Are you telling me neither side has any evidence?!” the judge asked both sides.

“I’m afraid not, Your Honour.” I managed to say. “I would still like this trial to continue. There are witnesses that are here today. We can resume when there is more evidence regarding this case once the witnesses share their sides of the story.”

“I second that decision, Herr Judge.”

Prosecutor Blackquill nodded silently, signalling his agreement.

“Alright then. We shall begin the trial of Mr. LaFranchi. Prosecution! Call out the first witness.” the judge replied.

“Understood. The prosecution would like to call the defendant to the witness stand!” Prosecutor Blackquill called out.

The judge still stared at the defendant. “Your name and occupation, defendant.”

The defendant took a big breath. “Sergio LaFranchi. I’m a social psychology student at UCLA.”

“You may begin your statement, Mr. LaFranchi.” I said to him.

“Well, I was at the special archeology conference that was being held by none other than Professor Layton. The Professor Layton from Gressenheller University in London. I was so excited to realize that the lecture was open to everyone and there wasn’t a need to sign up, so I went with my twin sister to the conference. When we got there, nothing was abnormal until suddenly, everyone just dropped onto the floor, including my sister, and they all began to slowly suffocate and die. I watched in horror as everyone around me dropped dead and I was still alive. They all began to turn into two different types of dust or something like that, including my sister. Soon afterwards, I was arrested, just as Professor Layton walked into the room.” the defendant finished.

“Wait, so you didn’t commit the attack?!” the judge exclaimed.

“No, Your Honour.” I groaned. “He was just arrested and accused. That’s all. No evidence suggests that he did it either. I’d like to call up the head detective, if you wish to know more.”

“HOLD IT!” was the shout from the defense.

“I’d like to psychoanalyze the defendant, Your Honour.” Defense Attorney Cykes stated. “He seems to be in pain.”

“Hmmm…” the judge thought. “What does the prosecution say?”

“The defense can do whatever they want. This trial is a waste of time, when we can all be out, helping the investigation.” Prosecutor Blackquill answered. “Do what you will, Cykes-dono. It won’t change the outcome.”

“Try me, Prosecutor Blackquill.” she retorted as she set up her psychoanalysis program. She stared at the screen for a long time as Prosecutor Blackquill scoffed.

“See anything unusual, Cykes-dono?” he taunted.

“Trauma, but nothing else…” she replied weakly.

“Hmpf. I see no reason to continue this testimony, Your Honour.” Prosecutor Blackquill scoffed.

“The defense agrees.” Defense Attorney Justice added. “Let’s just move on.”

“I agree with Herr Forehead.” Prosecutor Gavin added. “The prosecution would like to call up Doctor Naomi Kimishima to the stand!” I watched as Doctor Kimishima approached the stand.  She has a calm, but pale complexion surrounding her.

“Witness, name and occupation please.” the judge asked her.

“Doctor Naomi Kimishima. I’m a forensic scientist working for Cumberland Institute of Forensic Medicine.” she answered.

“Alright then. Doctor Kimishima, please begin your testimony.” I said.

“Sure thing, Chief Prosecutor.” she replied. “I was sleeping when my adoptive daughter, Alyssa, woke me up in a panic, saying that ‘Mister Little Guy’ was waiting for me at the door. Reluctantly, I went to the door and that was when Special Agent Navel informed me that a bioterrorist attack happened at UCLA. I didn’t believe what he said, but we quickly went over to the campus to investigate. It was then I saw the conference room littered with half-missing bodies and dust everywhere. I’ve done an analysis on all the stuff we did manage to find at the crime scene. I wish I could tell you more about what happened, but I’m not quite sure what happened after that.” Doctor Kimishima handed the judge a file containing all the lab results of the the evidence found at the scene.

* * *

EVIDENCE: Deceased’s Voice

DESCRIPTION: The final words of one of the deceased victims of the attack. It is unknown who this person is. “ARGH! No…. Sergio! Please! I don’t want to leave! I don’t want to leave!”

EVIDENCE: Amethyst Bullet Necklace

DESCRIPTION: A bullet necklace with an amethyst stone inside of a bullet casing. The crystalline structure of the stone does not resemble that of an amethyst’s, but tests state otherwise. What could this mean?

STARS: ⅔

EVIDENCE: White Dust

DESCRIPTION: One of the two dusts found at the crime scene that contains sodium carbonate, some sort of human DNA and is odorless.

STARS: ⅔

EVIDENCE: Black Dust

DESCRIPTION: One of the two dusts found at the crime scene that contains iron II oxide, some sort of human DNA and has a strong, rust-like scent.

STARS: ⅔

EVIDENCE: Possible Human DNA?

DESCRIPTION: The test results for the dusts came back with possible remains of human DNA. What could this mean?

STARS: ½

EVIDENCE: Ms. Fey’s Channeling

DESCRIPTION: Ms. Fey supposedly channeled one of the victims of this attack. This “channel” claims that a person named “The Shadow” did this.

STARS: ¼

EVIDENCE: “The Shadow”?

DESCRIPTION: A supposed victim channeled by Ms. Fey says the culprit goes by the name, “The Shadow”. The victim described that “The Shadow” is a girl.

STARS: ½

* * *

“This is all the information we know thus far, Your Honour.” I stated. “Doctor Kimishima is trying her best to work this out.”

“I see. So this evidence isn’t 100% solid yet.” the judge said. “Very well. Doctor Kimishima, you may go back to investigating.”

“HOLD IT!” was the shout from Wright. “Your Honour, I would like to cross-examine the Doctor!”

“What for, Mr. Wright?” the judge pondered.

“I just want some more information, that’s all.” was his reply.

“Very well. Prosecution, any objections?” the judge asked, turning towards us.

“None, Herr Judge.” Prosecutor Gavin answered.

“Doctor, any objections?” he asked, turning to Doctor Kimishima.

“None. Ask away, Mr. Wright.” she affirmed.

“Very well. Defense, you may begin.”

“Alright!” Wright said as he slammed his hands on the bench. “Doctor, I’d like to ask you more about when you got to the crime scene. Who was already there?”

Doctor Kimishima thought about it before answering. “A dozen or so police officers, Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth, Professor Layton and his little assistant, and the rest of the crime scene.”

“Professor Layton’s assistant? Who are they, exactly?” Wright inquired.

“Objection! Your Honour, what relevance does this have to the case?” I interjected.

“Objection! This is relevant!” Wright exclaimed. “Doctor Kimishima, please tell us who this person is!”

“A little boy. Luke Triton. He’s the same age as my adoptive daughter, but unfortunately, he’s not here.” Doctor Kimishima sighed. “He was abducted, along with my adoptive daughter. My daughter managed to escape, but Mr. Triton didn’t. The police are currently searching for Mr. Triton’s whereabouts, but nothing has come up. We are fearing for the worst, but we have reasons to believe he is currently alive.”

“Reasons? What are these reasons, Doctor Kimishima?” the judge asked, suddenly intrigued.

Doctor Kimishima pulled out a flash drive from her pocket. “This flash drive contains a ransom video, showing Mr. Triton unconscious and masked people demanding we hand over Professor Layton in exchange for the boy. I just received it before court started.”

“What?! Doctor, who gave this to you?!” I asked in shock.

“Special Agent Navel. I don’t know how he got it but he ran it through a legitimacy test. This is the original video and it is real. He’s working right now to figure out where this video was shot.”

“Your Baldness, we need to have a recess now.” Prosecutor Blackquill demanded.

“Why now, Prosecutor Blackquill?” the judge asked.

Prosecutor Blackquill whistled and suddenly, his pet hawk came swooping down and perched itself on the judge’s head. He smirked and the hawk began to screech.

“A-alright! We’ll now have a recess as soon as this thing is off my head!” the judge nervously said as he banged his gavel.

“Alright then.” Prosecutor Blackquill smirked. “Taka, come.” He motioned to his hawk to come and the hawk flew over and perched itself on his shoulder.

* * *

”A ransom video?! And it’s real?!” I exclaimed in disbelief. “This can’t be.”

“I’m afraid it’s true. They don’t seem to be interested in harming the boy, so that’s the least of our concerns.” Doctor Kimishima sighed.

“I don’t actually believe this. Luke is alive.” Wright muttered to himself. “We need to rescue him.”

“You do not say, Herr Wright.” Prosecutor Gavin replied. “Shall Herr Forehead and I go out and investigate?”

“Wait, what?!” Defense Attorney Justice retorted. “Me?! Why me?!”

“Because Fraulein Skye does not wish to see me or my ‘foppish’ face and you’re being useless to the defense side.”

“Excuse me, but I am helping my side. You aren’t.”

“Actually, Apollo, it would be better for you to go with Prosecutor Gavin. We’ll be okay without you.” Wright smiled as he put his hand on Justice’s shoulder.

“Gee, thanks, Mr. Wright…”

“Don’t be so bummed, Polly! Investigating is fun!” Defense Attorney Cykes reassured him.

“Fine, fine. I’ll go. As long as you don’t talk, Gavin.”

Wright pushed the two out of the room. “Have fun and don’t come back until you find some good evidence or some ladies!”

“H-hey! We’re supposed to be professionals right now! Not womanizers!” Defense Attorney Justice exclaimed.

“Oh Herr Forehead. You have much to learn. Do not fear, Klavier Gavin will teach this talentless lawyer how to pick up girls!” Prosecutor Gavin joked. “Let’s go, Herr Forehead! I’m driving!”

“You can’t! You don’t have a car!” Defense Attorney Justice said as he chased Prosecutor Gavin out of the room.

“Okay, now back to the whole video thing.” Wright said, still grinning like an idiot.

“Focus, Wright! We have a hostage situation on our hands!” I snapped. “How are we gonna find this kid?!”

“Stay calm, Chief-dono.” Prosecutor Blackquill reassured me.

“What about the Professor? I heard he was shot.” Defense Attorney Cykes added. “How is his condition, Doctor?”

“He should be undergoing surgery as we speak. I found traces of GUILT and Neo-GUILT as I was fixing the shotgun wound, but I wasn’t prepared for it, so I injected a suppressant and I’m having Doctor Blaylock operate on him. He should be fine. Doctor Blaylock has done worse surgeries.” Doctor Kimishima answered. Her phone began to vibrate and she picked it up. “What is it, Little Guy?”

“The results of the analysis must be done. How fast.” Wright assumed.

“You’re kidding! That’s not-”

“What happened, Doctor?” I asked.

“Okay. I got it. I’ll be there soon.” she said as she hung up. “The Professor’s condition is stable, but Doctor Blaylock isn’t. She’s collapsed again after the surgery. Doctor Cunningham did a full body scan and found some tumours in her brain. Thankfully, they’re benign, but no one is available to operate on her. I can’t go near the brain myself. Both Doctor Stiles and Doctor Vaughn are still sick. Doctor Tachibana and Doctor Freebird aren’t neurosurgeons either. I don’t know that to do.”

“What about the kid?” I heard a voice from behind all of us. I turned around to see a man in a trench coat and dark shades on.

“Holden.” Doctor Kimishima greeted coldly.

“Doctor.” he replied back. “The kid can operate. The diagnostician can assist. Problem solved.”

“You can’t possibly be serious. That kid is still recovering!” Doctor Kimishima argued.

“It’s our only hope, isn’t it, Doctor Kimishima?” I noted. “Isn’t that kid also a genius surgeon that’s on par with Doctor Stiles and Doctor Vaughn?”

“I suppose. Go see if he can or not then, Holden.” Doctor Kimishima replied coldly.

“I was going to anyways, but I came here to drop off something else.” he said as he held up another flash drive. “The kidnappers changed their terms of the ransom.”

I took the flash drive and quickly went over to pull out my laptop. I started up the laptop and plugged the drive in and loaded the video.

Three masked people appeared on the screen. “Hello, Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth, Mr. Wright. How do you do?” the video began. “We’ve changed our terms of the ultimatum. Screw the money. Give us the Professor and the stupid boy doesn’t get hurt. That’s all we want. If you do not comply, I will personally go and kill the kid while simulcasting it online. You have 72 hours.”

“That was short. And concerning.” Doctor Kimishima blinked.

“You think so? The kid didn’t appear in the footage at all. The FBI is going crazy now.” Holden responded. “Still no idea where the hell that kid is.”

“This is turning into a hay in a needlestack search. It just gets worse and worse.” she sighed. “I should get going. I need to continue the investigation. Just call me if you need something.”

“Will do, but I doubt we’ll need you for the remainder of the day, Doctor.” I said to her as she left the room.

“Chief-dono, what are we going to do now?” Prosecutor Blackquill asked me. “There’s only two witnesses left.”

“Just who are the last two witnesses?” I heard Wright’s dumb ‘you’re hiding something’ voice say.

“That’s for us to know and you to find out, Wright.”

“Chief Prosecutor, Mr. Wright, recess is over.” the bailiff interrupted.

“Best of luck to you, Wright. We both know the answer to this one.”

* * *

“Court will now recommence. Let us continue by moving onto the next witness.” the judge began. “Prosecution, if you may.”

“The prosecution would like to call Maya Fey to the stand.” Prosecutor Blackquill said.

“Wait, what?!” Defense Attorney Cykes said in surprise. “Maya?!”

“Hiya guys!” Miss Fey greeted the defense.

“Maya, what are you doing?!” Wright asked in shock.

“Don’t worry, don’t worry! I got this, Nick!” she reassured the defense, which only made them worry more.

“Hmpf. The defense doesn’t seem to be up to this task.” Prosecutor Blackquill scoffed.

“Miss Fey. It’s been a while.” the judge said.

“Nice to see you and your shiny bald head again, Your Honour!”

“Maya! Don’t say that!”

“Aw, come on, Nick!”

The judge banged his gavel. “Ahem. Miss Fey, I still have to ask for your name and occupation.”

“Oh right! The name’s Maya Fey and I’m the head of the Kurain Village!”

“Alright then. Miss Fey, your testimony.” I said impatiently.

Miss Fey took a deep breath. “I was with my good friend, Athena, when we were heading towards UCLA. Nick- I mean Mr. Wright- told us to go check out the situation after he got a phone call from Professor Layton. When we got there, we saw a crime scene and some people that were already there. I channeled a victim, but I don’t know what happened after that.”

“Interesting. Defense, your cross-examination, if you will.” the judge said as he faced the defense.

“Leave it to me, Mr. Wright!” Defense Attorney Cykes said excitedly. “Now, Maya- I mean Miss Fey- who exactly was at the crime scene with us?”

“Aw, come on, Athena! You know who was there! Professor Layton, Luke, Mr. Edgeworth, Doctor Kimishima and her lackey. And like an egg carton full of police officers.”

“An egg carton full?” Wright said stupidly.

“Oh hush, Mr. Wright!” Defense Attorney Cykes scolded. “Now, Maya, you said you had no recollection of who you channeled and what happened right after that, right?”

“Yeah. I never remember what happens when I channel someone.”

“What if I told you the person you channeled happened to be the defendant’s twin sister?!” she said as she pointed her finger at Miss Fey.

“What?! Objection! Your Honour, what significance does this even have to the case?!” I shouted.

“Objection overruled.” the judge said as he shook his head.

“I did?! Wow, I must be getting good at this!”

“Your Honour, I would like to call upon the defendant’s deceased twin sister, Sabine LaFranchi to the stand!” Defense Attorney Cykes boldly claimed.

“Objection! Your Honour, you can’t possibly accept spiritual channeling as evidence and you can’t possibly accept a deceased person’s testimony!” I shouted.

“Objection overruled. I’ve seen Miss Fey do this many times.” the judge replied to my outburst. “Miss. Fey, you may begin when you are ready.”

“Here goes nothing!” Miss Fey smiled as she began her ritual of sorts. Suddenly, a flash of light filled the courtroom and someone else who was wearing Miss Fey’s clothes was standing at the witness stand.

“Who are you?” the judge asked surprised to see that Miss Fey changed appearances.

Prosecutor Blackquill drew his sword against the person. “State your name, demon!”

“I am Sabine LaFranchi.” the person began. “I am the dead wife of the defendant.”

“Wait, whaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!” was the unison confusion from the defense. “Wife?!”

“What? You thought I was actually his twin?” the spirit answered. “You must be mistaken.”

The entire gallery started talking amongst themselves and the courtroom filled with voices quickly. I wasn’t prepared for a medium “summoning” and I certainly wasn’t ready for this sudden revelation.

“Sabine? I thought I killed you!” the defendant said amidst the ‘chaos’.

“You what?!” Prosecutor Blackquill exclaimed.

“Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat?????” the entire gallery said all at once.

“ORDER! I WILL HAVE ORDER!” the judge keep yelling frantically as he slammed his gavel repeatedly. “What did the witness just say?!”

“I killed her! I know I killed her! Why is she here?!” the defendant kept shouting. “Die, you witch!” he yelled as he jumped from his chair and ran towards Miss Fey’s channeling. The guards jumped on him and restrained him.

“I do apologize. He’s not what you Americans call ‘sane’. And he did not kill me.” the person stated. “Like I said before, The Shadow killed me. My ex-husband is delusional, but he did not kill me. This is how he copes with my death.”

“Wait, you’re saying that our client is insane?!” Wright suddenly realized.

“No, no. Not insane. He can’t tell what is real and what is fake.” she replied. “Ah, this body is unstable. I cannot remain here any longer. Goodbye.”

The channeling disappeared and the lifeless body of Miss Fey collapsed. Wright ran over to catch her before her head hit the ground. “Maya!”

Miss Fey managed to open up her eyes. “Nick, did I do it?” she asked weakly.

“Yeah, it was helpful. Get some rest.” he said.

“This is all happening so fast! I’ve never seen a first day quite like this!” the judge pointed out.

“Your Honour, the defense would like to request the trial be adjourned for today!” Defense Attorney Cykes said.

“Objection! Your Honour, we still have one witness left!” Prosecutor Blackquill interjected.

“Hmm…” the judge thought deeply. “Normally, I would adjourn for the day, but the prosecution seems very determined today. Very well, i will allow for the last witness to testify and then adjourn for the day after the defense’s cross examination.”

“Athena, I’ll leave this up to you.” Wright told his subordinate as he held Miss Fey in his arms and quickly exited the courtroom.

Defense Attorney Cykes gave Wright a salute. “I won’t let you down, boss!”

The judge banged his gavel again. “Ahem, if the defense is ready, we will continue.”

“Sorry, Your Honour! The defense is ready to continue.”

“Good. Prosecutor Blackquill, please summon your last witness.”

“The prosecution would like to call Kay Faraday to the stand!” Prosecutor Blackquill called out.

“Wait, whaaaaaaaaaat?!” was my reply to what he just said. “Blackquill, I did not know that Kay would be the last witness!”

“You didn’t get the memo about Miss Faraday’s appearance? Huh, the email system must be down.” he shrugged.

“Hi Mr. Edgeworth!” Kay said cheerfully to me.

“Witness, name and occupation please.”

“I am the Great Thief who steals the truth! I am the second Yatagarasu! I am Kay Faraday!”

“Goodness! A thief in the courtroom?” the judge said in surprise.

“Your Honour, she doesn’t actually steal physical items. Or digital ones either.” I corrected. “She steals the truth.”

“Stealing truth? I have never heard of such a product.” the judge concluded. “Nonetheless, this trial isn’t a theft case.”

I groaned. “Witness, your testimony.”

“Geez, you’ve gotten more sad, Mr. Edgeworth.” she pouted. “I came to Los Angeles to visit my good buddy and partner in crime, who is now the chief prosecutor of this place! When I arrived at the airport, they shut down everything and the police just searched everything and everyone. I made my escape from the airport, thanks to all the training I did and stumbled across some kids getting shoved into a van, so I trailed them. I found a warehouse, though I’m not sure where it is now. Inside, I saw the two kids, so I broke the window, jumped in and tried to rescue both of them. I only managed to get out with one. I then found old Gummy and he took care of the girl. Then I went over to the prosecutor’s office, only to find out that someone was breaking into it and stealing one of Prosecutor Gavin’s guitars and trying to search the chief prosecutor’s office for something. He saw me enter the room, so he jumped out of the window. I jumped out of the window too. I just had to get that guitar back, but before I could, Mr. Edgeworth yelled at me, so I quickly ran for it because I almost lost sight of the thief. I found him and took him down and left him in a hogtie and stole the guitar and took it to Mr. Edgeworth’s place!”

“You broke into the chief prosecutor’s place? Goodness!” the judge exclaimed.

“I can confirm the legitimacy of the last part to her testimony…” I added.

“Defense, begin your cross examination.”

“Right! Uh…” the defense began to blank out. “Oh yeah! Miss Faraday, is it?”

“You can call me Kay!”

“Right! Kay, what exactly happened at the warehouse, where you attempted to rescue Miss Breslin and Mr. Triton?” Defense Attorney Cykes asked.

“Those crooks were so slippery! I thought the boy could keep up, but the boxes we were jumping on were unstable. He fell as we made our escape. I wanted to go back to get him, but he told us to run for it to make sure we were safe.” Kay concluded.

“We’ve sent out a search team to track down Mr. Triton’s whereabouts, but nothing has come up.” Prosecutor Blackquill informed. “With the information Miss Faraday has provided, it might give us clues as to his current whereabouts.”

“We still have much more to investigate, Your Honour.” I added.

“I see. Well then. Court will reconvene when there is enough evidence. It is clear that the defendant might not be the culprit, but I cannot let him go just yet. Bail will be set at $300,000. Court is adjourned!” the judge finished as he slammed his gavel.


End file.
